How can my organization or group create a new project on the Ecosystem Investigation Network?

We are committed to supporting thoughtful project design and hosting projects that have been designed with stakeholder input and with attention to the multiple outcomes to these projects in addition to science. While projects aren’t required to use out tools, they need to demonstrate (through conversation with us and the provided supports and materials) to us that adequate thought has gone into the work. You can either use our toolkit resources to conduct your own design process, or hire us to facilitate a design process for you. There is a fee for posting new projects. Contact us for more details.

What supports do you provide to create projects for the Ecosystem Investigation Network?

Our project development toolkit consists of a series of worksheets and templates designed to guide project developers in thinking through all aspects of their project.

Can I create a project on the Ecosystem Investigation Network that would take place outside the Gulf of Maine?

You are welcome to use our resources to design projects that will take place outside of the Gulf of Maine, but we cannot host these projects for you. We’d be happy to recommend national platforms.

I’m an interested person. Where do I go?

Shop around for a project that interests you and that happens in a place and season that works for you. Take a look at the Overview tabs on the project pages to see what if any trainings are required. If no trainings are required, read through the project tabs and follow instructions on how to participate. There is no sign-up required.

I'm outside the Gulf of Maine Watershed. How can I participate?

Our focus on the geographic area of the Gulf of Maine and its watershed is part of what defines our project. You are more than welcome to contribute to projects when you visit this area. You can register in the site and participate in the discussion forums from wherever you are. At this point, however, we are unable to accept observations from outside our region, even if they are collected following an Ecosystem Investigation Network project protocol.

I’m a project owner, and I’m interested in curriculum to support my project. Can your team help?

Yes! Our team of educators would love to work with you to create curriculum to support classroom participation in your project, whether or not it lives on the Ecosystem Investigation Network. Email christine@gmri.org to discuss your work and strategize about ways to fund curriculum development.

Do you create curriculum for all projects on the Ecosystem Investigation Network?

Curriculum has been developed for all classroom projects, whose protocols lend themselves to group action, whose seasonality lines up with the school year, and whose content aligns with the practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts that are important for middle school students to learn. Most importantly, the creators of these projects are enthusiastic about working with middle school students and teachers. Look for the “Classroom” icon on our Projects page to see all projects with wrap-around curriculum. We do not create curriculum for the public projects.

What quality can I expect from projects on the Ecosystem Investigation Network?

Data quality is defined for each project in the project Data Plan. This plan is posted on the project pages. This plan details the project’s data quality goals, how data quality will be managed, how data will be used, and how the project creators have supported participants’ success.

What organizations are using the Ecosystem Investigation Network?

Visit our partner page to see!

Tips to help get registered/logged in

Existing users:

On January 21st, 2021 we upgraded our user management system. This requires one small ask of our users, and that's to change your password. Here are some tips that should help:

• In a new browser window, go to: http://investigate.gmri.org
• Click Log in from the menu in the upper right corner.
• Read the message about Login Changes and click green "Reset password" text link (to the right of the green Login button.)
• Enter the email you used to create your account (it would be your previous username) and click the green 'Reset my password' button.
• An email will be sent to you with instructions to reset your password.
• Click the link in the email to open the Confirm password reset form and enter a new password
• You will see a notification that your password reset is complete!
• Click Log in in the upper right corner again and log in with your username and NEW password
• You should be logged in!

New users:

• Welcome! If you are registering for the first time, you can skip most of the steps above. Just click 'Register' in the upper right corner and follow the prompts to create a username and password. You will need to verify your email address, but that's just part of our new secure user management system.

If you are still having problems, please reach out to us at ecosysteminvestigation@gmri.org and we will help you get registered/logged in!

I'm a teacher. Where do I start?

A great place to start is GMRI’s curriculum platform which will connect you with available curriculum resources and professional learning opportunities designed to help you engage your classrooms in these citizen science projects. You can also explore the classroom projects listed here and choose a project that works for you and your students. Take a look at the Overview and Prepare tabs to learn about any particular project requirements.

Our school isn’t on the coast. Are there projects we can participate in?

The Ecosystem Investigation Network is supporting projects asking questions about species and habitats across the Gulf of Maine and its watershed. We are building our classroom projects to ensure that there are opportunities across the region’s forests, fields, wetlands, waterways, and coastlines. We are also working to ensure that the available classroom projects fall across a range of levels of complexity. If you don’t see the right project here for you and your students, reach out to us so that we can connect you with other citizen science opportunities and opportunities to participate in brand new projects that might not yet be visible on the site.

Can my students and I participate in a project designed for the public?

Yes, with some caveats. First, projects designed for the public do not have accompanying educational resources; you’ll need to create your own. Second, individual participation on the Ecosystem Investigation Network is designed for those over 13 years of age. This is due both to our commitment to keep young people safe online and to federal laws. The Classroom project protocols have been designed to enable young students’ participation in ways that protect their privacy. Young people under 13 years of age may participate in public projects either by posting data as a class through your individual account or using their own individual accounts with permission from their parent or guardian. Read our Privacy Policy for more details. There may be additional considerations related to how challenging the protocol is for novices and younger students, and some may have me have required trainings. You can ask the project owners through the discussion forums to learn if their project is a good match for you and your students.

What learning outcomes can I help my students achieve through their citizen science participation?

Citizen science participation has the potential to support a huge range of learning including meeting many of the learning targets set out by the Next Generation Science Standards. In addition, students see themselves as scientists partnering with professional scientists to help understand the ecosystems around us. For more about what we think students can learn through citizen science, check out the standards identified in one of our curriculum units and check out our An Approach to Learning through Citizen Science (in preparation).

There are a couple of differences between classroom and public projects, and a lot of similarities.

All the projects on the Ecosystem Investigation Network are being conducted with genuine purpose and researching climate-related change and impacts (you can read the particulars in each project's Data Plan). All projects represent a collaboration among scientists, communities, and individuals.

Public projects are designed for interested individuals (or small groups) to participate in. To participate, individuals need to register on the Ecosystem Investigation Network. In compliance with the Federal Children's Online Privacy and Protection Rule ("COPPA"), individuals must be over 13 years of age to register on our site, or must obtain their parent or guardian's permission to do so.

Classroom projects are designed for group participation (think of a classroom of ~24 students) and to ensure the privacy and protection of youth under 13 years of age. Protocols (the instructions and ways data are collected) are designed to both leverage the capacity of a group and to give everyone something important to do. Logistically, the classroom teacher registers in the Ecosystem Investigation Network, and then the system generates anonymous data entry links for students to enter the data and observations they collect. Additionally, the classroom project protocols often involve collecting a lot of data, or many replicates, which serves to strengthen the value of the work.

“Citizen science” is a research approach that creates active collaboration among professional scientists and everyone else. To be successful, projects must be interesting or urgent enough to engage participants and structured enough to deliver scientific value -- both to the people participating and to the ultimate users of the data, who may or may not be the same people. Participants can engage in projects in a range of ways -- from making and sharing casual observations to taking specific measurements using a scientific protocol and equipment, to data processing or analysis to find out what all the observations mean. Projects can be designed so that anyone can participate, or can be created just for people with unique skills, knowledge, and/ or access to places.

We use the word “citizen” in citizen science to refer to citizens of the world, not citizens of any nationality. We are not totally comfortable with this phrase; we appreciate that the word "citizen" may raise issues or confusion for many. "Citizen science" is also the most common name -- in research, practice, and common usage -- that has been given to the collaborative research that we promote. When a better name gains popular usage, we will happily adapt.