Post by NewLand Camps on Sept 14, 2023 21:41:30 GMT
Citizen Science requires the use of so many tools and instruments. The most important tool for citizen science, though, is YOU! Your mind, your senses, and your willingness to participate. This thread exists for the community to talk about the different kinds of tools available outside of ourselves. Tools we can use to participate in the science of the next century. Many people think that scientific instruments are expensive and bulky and require a lot of expertise to use! This is only PARTLY correct. Many tools of today are produced by instrumentation companies that sell excellent products for use in research by big companies or research labs. This is where much of the money in research and think tanks is situated. There are some basic tools that are cheap or free, simple to use, and can reveal a lot of good data. Read the basics here and then please POST any apps, creative ways of making tools, or resources for acquiring tools in the thread!
*Communication and Reporting: The computer you are using right now is a VERY important tool for citizen science. It is how we stay connected and report our findings these days! Consider creating a spreadsheet if you are taking recordings and be as specific as you can be! Include notes and ideas as well! Posting to a shared drive or the cloud can make these accessible to many other citizen scientists.
*Temperature: Thermometers are usually cheap and can be used to measure temperature at a specific point in space and time.
*Weight/Mass/Density: Scales can range from very cheap to very expensive. They help us to know weight, density, and other important properties of substances.
*Light: Telescopes, microscopes, and spectrum analysis tools can help us see the natural world from different perspectives. The far away, the small, and the composition of light are some of the different perspectives we can discover.
*Time: Clocks exist to help us take the elusiveness of time and segment it into measurable and understandable amounts. Using a publicly available atomic clock for your recordings can help us to pinpoint findings in time and space!
*Phone: Your phone is a multi-tool, and we are growing the capacities of our smart phones faster and faster. Some coders and app developers are kids, young adults, and even professional scientists! Many students contribute to the growth of using phones and phone apps for scientific purposes.
These are only a few of the different tools and what they can do. Get out there and discover some tools that are interesting to you. Come back here and tell us what they can do and maybe what you might do with those tools if you could design your own project! We can help too!
*Communication and Reporting: The computer you are using right now is a VERY important tool for citizen science. It is how we stay connected and report our findings these days! Consider creating a spreadsheet if you are taking recordings and be as specific as you can be! Include notes and ideas as well! Posting to a shared drive or the cloud can make these accessible to many other citizen scientists.
*Temperature: Thermometers are usually cheap and can be used to measure temperature at a specific point in space and time.
*Weight/Mass/Density: Scales can range from very cheap to very expensive. They help us to know weight, density, and other important properties of substances.
*Light: Telescopes, microscopes, and spectrum analysis tools can help us see the natural world from different perspectives. The far away, the small, and the composition of light are some of the different perspectives we can discover.
*Time: Clocks exist to help us take the elusiveness of time and segment it into measurable and understandable amounts. Using a publicly available atomic clock for your recordings can help us to pinpoint findings in time and space!
*Phone: Your phone is a multi-tool, and we are growing the capacities of our smart phones faster and faster. Some coders and app developers are kids, young adults, and even professional scientists! Many students contribute to the growth of using phones and phone apps for scientific purposes.
These are only a few of the different tools and what they can do. Get out there and discover some tools that are interesting to you. Come back here and tell us what they can do and maybe what you might do with those tools if you could design your own project! We can help too!