Moscatelli Sara, Paniccià Anna, Palmioli Elisa, Del Gobbo Laura, Mercati Francesca, Scocco Paola
International School of Advanced Studies, PhD Course "One Health" University of Camerino, Via Madonna delle Carceri 9, 62032 Camerino, Italy.
School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Via Pontoni 5, 62032 Camerino, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jan 14;15(2):201. doi: 10.3390/ani15020201.
Citizen science activities were performed using sheep as an animal model and involving 252 students aged between 9 and 11 years. The study focused on three pillars: hill/mountain landscape biodiversity, animal welfare and the social utility of research. Two types of tests-"attitude questionnaires" (AQs) and "maximum performance tests" (MPTs)-were administered. The AQ was administered before and at the end of the project to compare the children's sensitivity to the treated topics and to assess their awareness of the project's pillars. For each AQ item children expressed their agreement/disagreement by choosing from five response modes. The MPT aim was to evaluate if children had understood the explained topics by true/false options in respect to a sentence. The correlations between MPT scores and school evaluations for science subjects were analyzed. Among the fifteen AQ items specific to the pillars, four items related to biodiversity, three items related to animal welfare and two items related to the social utility of research, showing a significant difference ( < 0.05) for the second AQ's responses. Two items showed sex-related differences. The analysis of the data from the MPT showed that the didactic methodology used was effective and improved the position of most children by bringing them into higher science evaluation groups.
公民科学活动以绵羊作为动物模型开展，有252名9至11岁的学生参与其中。该研究聚焦于三个支柱：山地景观生物多样性、动物福利以及研究的社会效用。进行了两种类型的测试——“态度问卷”（AQs）和“最大表现测试”（MPTs）。在项目开始前和结束时发放AQ，以比较孩子们对所涉主题的敏感度，并评估他们对项目支柱的认知。对于每个AQ项目，孩子们通过从五种回答模式中选择来表达同意/不同意。MPT的目的是通过对一个句子选择真/假选项来评估孩子们是否理解了所讲解的主题。分析了MPT分数与科学学科学校评估之间的相关性。在特定于支柱的15个AQ项目中，4个项目与生物多样性相关，3个项目与动物福利相关，2个项目与研究的社会效用相关，第二次AQ回答显示出显著差异（<0.05）。两个项目显示出性别差异。对MPT数据的分析表明，所采用的教学方法是有效的，通过将大多数孩子提升到更高的科学评估组，改善了他们的情况。
