Wild Things 2025

One of the driving goals of the Nature Museum TEENS program is to support science identity, agency, and sense of belonging. The summer program is a 6-week, paid internship that engages 30 Chicago high school students in lab- and field-based activities focused on urban ecology. During the first 3 weeks of the program, teens learn field methods, develop questions, and identify interest areas by contributing to existing Nature Museum projects and participatory science projects, such as iNaturalist, eBird, Caterpillars Count, and Squirrel-Net. In the final 3 weeks of the program, teens work in small groups to develop and carry out field investigations based on shared interests. Their projects are designed in a participatory science and open science model, utilizing low or no cost materials, clear protocols, and ways for the public to contribute. Teens collaboratively develop their own research questions, design protocols and shareable mobile data collection forms, collect and analyze field-based data, post findings on self-created project websites, and share their work at a final project showcase open to the general public. Another unique aspect of the program is that participants learn how to collect and preserve plant and invertebrate specimens, which are incorporated into the museum’s scientific and teaching collections. Participants consistently report feeling connected to a larger community and that they are contributing to something larger than themselves. Additionally, the teen-created projects and public showcase serve to increase participants’ science identity and agency.

In April 2024, the TEENS program became one of six out-of-school time, pre-college STEM programs in the country to earn the first-of-its kind accreditation from Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS). The accreditation elevates the critical learning and skills development provided by the TEENS program, promoting equity by increasing the value of these experiences in the higher education admissions process. The accreditation was facilitated through the STEM PUSH Network, an NSF INCLUDES Alliance working to leverage the power of pre-college STEM programs to broaden participation of underrepresented students in STEM.

This session will highlight the program’s pedagogical approaches, including successes and challenges. Presenters will share the program progression through the lens of program participants, sharing teen experiences, participant outcomes, and teen-created projects.

This session explores students using various biodiversity tools to capture and contribute to a yearly inventory of the school campus flora and fauna. 111 AP Environmental Science students pitched ideas on the best ways to inform the public about biodiversity data and decided to co-create a publicly accessible Tree Campus digital zine.

In November 2023, spurred by the question of a 5th grade student, the Prairie School of DuPage began a journey that linked civics and science. After studying state symbols, the entire Upper Elementary class began the rigorous process of ensuring Illinois could designate an Illinois state mushroom species. Through the process of gathering qualitative and quantitative data and working with local state legislatures, students decided to advocate for the Giant puffball. Learn how students made history ensuring that SB3514 passed into law in August 2024.

Fungi are among the most diverse and ecological important group of organisms on earth.  They also directly benefit people as food, sources of medicines, etc. Unfortunately, they are not immune to the threats that put species of animals and plants at risk including habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, over exploitation, and climate change. Yet, efforts to conserve them lag far behind actions on animals and plants.  Progress is being made, but there is much work yet to be done.  Because fungal diversity and distributions are still poorly documented, there is great opportunity for discovery.  Thus, community scientists can make significant contributions. There is a long history of amateur mycologists and other field naturalists contributing important data, but for the most part, their efforts have not been coordinated, and the results of their findings were often not captured.  While websites like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer now provide a platform to capture observation data, the information on these sites are for the most part random observations, and efforts are not coordinated to target gaps in knowledge on species of interest. Several recent initiatives are addressing these issues and are providing individuals with the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to efforts focused on documenting fungal diversity and their conservation.

Preschoolers have all that it takes to become agents of positive change. Come find out ways to encourage stewardship through emergent and organic moments in drop-in and drop-off programming for young children.