Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Four sessions held across 3 weeks.

Lectures / discussion: 2 sessions, 2 hours / session

Makerspace Hands-on: 1 session, 4 hours

Field Hands-on: 1 session, 2 groups, 1.5 hours / group

Course Overview

Put citizen science into action to tackle climate change! This course explores approaches to applying scientific data and new technologies toward climate-related research needs, community risks, and policy actions. Natural gas leaks (a major source of methane emissions) will be a particular focus. Through in-class lectures and discussion, a “maker”-style activity and a data collection field trip, participants will learn about effective science-based community action and practice putting that knowledge into action themselves.

Prerequisites

This non-credit course has no prerequisites. Problem solvers of all backgrounds and experience levels are welcome. Just bring a passion for changing the world for the better and an eagerness to roll up your sleeves.

Calendar

SES # SESSION TYPES TOPICS
1 Lecture / discussion (2 hours) Introduction to citizen / community science networks in operation, including Public Lab; future of community science for climate action. Discuss some relevant field examples.
2 Makerspace Hands-on (4 hours) Tools to visualize & verify: A mini-hackathon on data collection and data visualization, and a hands-on introduction to the tools for live data collection of methane gas leaks. Details on the history of natural gas infrastructure nationally and in Boston area.
3 Field Hands-on (2 x 1.5 hours) Methane leak “safari”: A field trip to collect live data on methane leaks in the natural gas infrastructure, using a van equipped for mobile GPS-linked monitoring and a handheld probe for up-close investigation.
4 Lecture / discussion (2 hours) Discuss the ways data can inform public decision-making: Using citizen data in legal cases, and the challenges and promise of sustainability footprints. Debrief of methane leak data collected on the prior field trip.
Learning Resource Types
Image Gallery
Lecture Videos
Workshop Videos
Video Materials
Lecture Notes