ABSTRACT
Citizen inquiry combines the strengths of citizen science and inquiry-based learning, which has been applied mostly in informal learning settings. This chapter introduces the motivation theory and a rationale for exploring the particular factors in relation to students' motivation and contribution. It describes the procedure, materials, and results of the Tree and Bird Observation on Campus (TBOC) project. In citizen science, lack of feedback may discourage volunteers from continuing to contribute; feedback lets volunteers know that their efforts are appreciated, which keeps them from feeling peripheral to the scientific endeavour. The chapter then encompassed a field experiment based on a citizen science project followed by interviews to clarify experimental results. The study consisted of four phases: preparing students by introducing citizen science to them; engaging students in TBOC and completion of Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS); interviewing a subset of students; and analysing data associated with students' motivation, data quantity and quality, and the interview transcriptions.
