Tampa, Florida — Teenage volunteers at MOSI will pull out their smartphones and head into the woods around the Museum of Science & Industry on Wednesday. They’re not hunting for Pokémon — they’re joining a worldwide effort to protect endangered species. They’ll also be lending a hand to other research projects from all over the world to help make major discoveries in vital areas like water pollution, climate change, and space exploration.
It’s part of Citizen Science Day at MOSI. All day on March 15, 2017, visitors to MOSI can learn how they can use smartphone apps and computer programs to become citizen scientists. As technology connects the world and creates new challenges, it also leads to new solutions like the emerging field of citizen science, where ordinary people each pitch in to contribute to significant worldwide research projects and help make real, important scientific discoveries.
“Our effort on Wednesday will be led by members of MOSI’s Youth Advisory Board, who are dedicating part of their Spring Break to making a difference in the world,” said Laura Winnie, MOSI Youth Programs Manager.
“The Youth Advisory Board is a youth leadership organization created by MOSI, and its teenage members contribute to MOSI and our community through service projects that lead to learning in the fields of STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.”
MOSI partner National Geographic has created an online guide to citizen science projects at this link. Visitors to MOSI on Wednesday will get hands-on instructions on how to use apps to become citizen scientists, but anyone anywhere can follow along with MOSI’s Citizen Science Day by following MOSI on social media — Facebook: MOSI Tampa, Twitter: @mositampa, Instagram: @mosi_tampa.
Images for media use of MOSI: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AjMl2DqAimg9qwd3okBr8TM_94sV
Reporters are welcome to join Youth Advisory Board members as they become citizen scientists; please contact us to coordinate. Media contact: Grayson Kamm, MOSI Communications Director, 813-987-6018 or grayson@mosi.org.
Also at MOSI — For a limited time, MOSI guests can pay for a day and get the rest of the year free! Find out more about Tampa Bay’s most affordable Pay for a Day deal here. Registration is now open for MOSI’s Summer Science Camps. Sign up here before April 1st and get a 15% discount.
MOSI, the Museum of Science & Industry, is Tampa Bay’s community-supported science center. At MOSI, people of all ages (this means you!) can see and do amazing things every day. Experience an immersive film in the Florida Hospital IMAX® DOME Theatre, see the stars in The Saunders Planetarium, have a blast in our Kids In Charge! children’s science center, witness tomorrow in 3D Printing the Future: The Exhibition, wonder at nature in our BioWorks Butterfly Garden, and defy gravity on our Sky Trail® Ropes Course. MOSI (we pronounce it MOH’-zee) is the largest science center in the Southeast, and a not-for-profit magnet for innovation in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) education where we make a difference in people’s lives by making science real for people of all ages and backgrounds. For more information about MOSI, visit mosi.org.