Helping Citizens Use Science for Change
Active participation in the community is a strong part of the Lesley learning experience. Across the university, students are focusing their energies on projects related to the ever more critical needs of urban ecology, reaching out and reaching within Cambridge, Boston and surrounding communities to create more ecologically compatible worlds between citizens and the nature around them.
In a combination of science and civic engagement, Lesley students work with faculty to take learning into their own hands, initiating projects, doing research, engaging civic organizations, and reaching out to the community to work with them as ‘citizen scientists’ – as supporters, and benefactors, of scientific discovery.
Making a Difference
Recent student projects have included tracking neighborhood sound levels, researching invasive plant species distribution, monitoring local wildlife, measuring green roof capacities and studying recycling patterns. As citizen scientists, students work with local individuals and organizations to contribute to the common good.
Additional projects have included developing QR codes for tree wells to help passersby identify plants; building a community garden on Lesley’s campus, after which they advocated for the creation of a Science of Gardening course; producing and distributing educational brochures on invasive species and studying the distribution of birds known to be potential amplifiers of West Nile Virus.
Along with organizations such as the Urban Ecology Institute and the Friends of Alewife Reservation, Lesley students are working on solutions to the real world problems we are all facing.
To Learn More
For more information on Lesley's Science programs, please visit the links below:
Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science
Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies
Environmental Science Minor
Earth Science Minor
M.Ed. in Science in Education
M.S. in Ecological Teaching and Learning
Advanced Professional Certificate in Science in Education