Learners, Not Just Data Contributors: Citizen Scientists’ Self-Regulated Learning

Citizen science substantially contributes to large-scale biodiversity monitoring and enhancing science literacy. However, striking a balance between advancing citizen scientists’ scientific literacy and achieving robust scientific outcomes remains a challenge. Self-regulated learning (SRL) has the potential to enhance scientific literacy and provide valuable insights into addressing this challenge. This study investigated SRL in citizen scientists through a mixed-methods approach, involving a questionnaire survey with 133 participants and interviews with 12 volunteers. The results reveal that SRL does not differ significantly across educational levels and age groups. Furthermore, the mastery-approached goal mediates the prediction of SRL by epistemological views towards science. These insights underscore that to enhance SRL, it is suggested to implement targeted learning design strategies on citizen science platforms, offer explicit training in scientific epistemology, and employ diverse methods to foster participant motivation. By framing volunteers as active learners rather than passive data contributors, this study provides new insights into the educational dimensions of citizen science.