Science Education and Beyond: Citizen Science in Primary School Potentially Affects Conceptual Learning and Socio-emotional Development

Citizen science (CS) is considered a powerful supplement for teaching natural sciences (and beyond) at school. Even though involving children of primary school age in scientific activities is still uncommon, previous studies confirmed that they can contribute meaningful data as citizen scientists. Yet, the administrative efforts of organising the pupils‘ participation in research activities are high for both, schools and scientists. Typically, some children benefit enormously from participating in a CS project; however, others don’t. To enable decisions for school representatives and funding agencies, empirical tests of the learning benefits of involving CS in routine teaching are needed. This chapter focuses on CS in the education context and wraps up the results of critical tests of (i) factual learning during a project on the social behaviour of a free-living bird species, that is, Greylag geese (Anser anser), (ii) conceptual learning, that is, the transfer of knowledge to new contexts and the children’s concepts of ‘friendship’ and (iii) impulsive behaviour control in primary school children involved in a project as citizen scientists

Differential responses to gosling distress calls in parental and non-parental Greylag Geese

GS received funding by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) projects Y-366-B17 and W-1234-G17. AL was funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW, former BMWF) project SPA/03-005/Graugänse and DF by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project P-21489-B17.The pre-fledging survival of Greylag goslings (Anser anser) is known to be influenced by parenting style and particularly parental vigilance. Visual and acoustic cues may be important in parental vigilance: if vision is blocked, for example in a highly structured habitat, acoustic recognition of the goslings by their parents would be beneficial. We confronted parental and non-parental Greylag Geese with playbacks of gosling distress calls and analyzed their behavioral responses. Parental geese showed a significant increase in their vigilance behavior during and after playbacks while geese without offspring showed increased comfort behavior. In a permutated discriminant function analysis, we found no family-specific vocal cues in gosling calls, and potential call familiarity did not have any effect on parental behavioral responses. Vigilance in families was further influenced by the number of goslings and gosling age, with increased vigilance when the number of goslings was high, and when goslings were younger. Parental females were more vigilant than parental males, suggesting differences in parental investment between males and females. We conclude that visual cues may be more important in offspring-related vigilance than calls, which elicited different behavioral responses depending on the social class of the geese.PostprintPeer reviewe

Parental behaviour and family proximity as key to gosling survival in Greylag Geese (Anser anser)

Reproductive success in monogamous species is generally affected by both behavioural and hormonal fine-tuning between pair partners. Vigilance, defence and brooding of offspring are among the main parental investments, and often the sexes adopt different roles. In the present study, we investigate how sex differences in parental behaviour and family proximity in the socially monogamous Greylag Goose (Anser anser) affect gosling survival. During the reproductive season in spring 2013, we recorded the behaviour of 18 pairs with offspring and gosling survival in a semi-tame, long-term monitored, and individually marked flock of Greylag Geese in Grünau, Austria. We found that behavioural role differentiation between the parents varied with developmental phase, and thus with gosling age. Especially during the first 10 days after hatching, females were foraging more frequently than males, which were more vigilant and aggressive towards other flock members. Such differences between the sexes levelled out 20 to 30 days after hatching. In general, females stayed in closer proximity to their offspring than males. Gosling survival was high when the parents were relatively aggressive and emphasized vigilance rather than foraging behaviour. Hence, we show a direct link between pair partners’ quality of parental investment and gosling survival.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Seasonal differences of corticosterone metabolite concentrations and parasite burden in northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita): The role of affiliative interactions

The reproductive season is energetically costly as revealed by elevated glucocorticoid concentrations, constrained immune functions and an increased risk of infections. Social allies and affiliative interactions may buffer physiological stress responses and thereby alleviate associated effects. In the present study, we investigated the seasonal differences of immune reactive corticosterone metabolite concentrations, endoparasite burden (nematode eggs and coccidian oocysts) and affiliative interactions in northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), a critically endangered bird. In total, 43 individually marked focal animals from a freeranging colony were investigated. The analyses included a description of initiated and received affiliative interactions, pair bond status as well as seasonal patterns of hormone and endoparasite levels. During the reproductive season, droppings contained parasite eggs more often and corticosterone metabolite levels were higher as compared to the period after reproduction. The excretion rate of endoparasite products was lower in paired individuals than in unpaired ones, but paired animals exhibited higher corticosterone metabolite concentrations than unpaired individuals. Furthermore, paired individuals initiated affiliative behaviour more frequently than unpaired ones. This suggests that the reproductive season influences the excretion patterns of endoparasite products and corticosterone metabolites and that affiliative interactions between pair partners may positively affect endoparasite burden during periods of elevated glucocorticoid levels. Being embedded in a pair bond may have a positive impact on individual immune system and parasite resistance

Differential responses to gosling distress calls in parental and non-parental Greylag Geese

The pre-fledging survival of Greylag goslings (Anser anser) is known to be influenced by parenting style and particularly parental vigilance. Visual and acoustic cues may be important in parental vigilance: if vision is blocked, for example in a highly structured habitat, acoustic recognition of the goslings by their parents would be beneficial. We confronted parental and non-parental Greylag Geese with playbacks of gosling distress calls and analyzed their behavioral responses. Parental geese showed a significant increase in their vigilance behavior during and after playbacks while geese without offspring showed increased comfort behavior. In a permutated discriminant function analysis, we found no family-specific vocal cues in gosling calls, and potential call familiarity did not have any effect on parental behavioral responses. Vigilance in families was further influenced by the number of goslings and gosling age, with increased vigilance when the number of goslings was high, and when goslings were younger. Parental females were more vigilant than parental males, suggesting differences in parental investment between males and females. We conclude that visual cues may be more important in offspring-related vigilance than calls, which elicited different behavioral responses depending on the social class of the geese

Monthly patterns of testosterone and behavior in prospective fathers

The individual time patterns of salivary testosterone of adult healthy men, self-reported sexual behavior and their co-occurrence with regular weekly or monthly intervals were studied. Twenty-seven volunteer males (mean age 33 1 years) collected daily morning saliva over a period of 90 days. Evening questionnaires provided daily information on sexual activity. From the saliva, testosterone immunoreactive substances were determined using enzyme immunoassay. To detect events in which increases of testosterone were associated with sexual activity and at the same time controlling for regular internal patterns in men, data were analyzed using Theme software. First results indicated a varying number of complex nonrandom interaction patterns of testosterone with sexual activity, but also with weekly (i.e., Saturdays) and monthly intervals (i.e., 28-day full-moon intervals). The social context of the occurrence of specific pattern combinations was elaborated using parameters from the men’s self-reported general life history profiles. Peak hormone levels occurred around weekends in the majority of the males. The 28-day monthly interval coincided with testosterone peaks only in those of the paired men who reported a current wish for children (“prospective fathers”), but not in unpaired men or in those who did not wish to have children with their current partner. Rather than representing a direct regular pattern of the male testosterone per se, the observed patterns suggest that men have the facultative potential to adjust their testosterone responses to their female partner’s cycle. In line with the interactions between behavior and androgens observed in vertebrates in general, this study adds an example of the mutual character of hormone–behavior interactions and, thus, for the social context of testosterone patterns in human males