This article proposes a conceptual shift in Citizen Science (CS): moving from projects focused solely on “doing science” to designs that also measure and foster participants’ complex thinking, in alignment with Education 4.0 and UNESCO’s Open Science Recommendation (2021).
Using the Evidence-Based Educational Innovation (EBEI) approach and the Theory of Change (ToC), the authors review recent frameworks and typologies and identify two major gaps: the weak attention to the sub-competencies of complex thinking (critical, systemic, scientific, and innovative) and the difficulty of standardizing or monitoring CS impacts beyond participation.
As a contribution, they present a three-dimensional framework for CS project development: Bounded, Threshold, and Full-cycle, which articulates inputs, outputs/outcomes, and impacts according to the ToC model. They also propose an eight-component typology to measure progress and impact: context awareness, citizen engagement, infrastructure leverage, technological innovation, educational innovation, outreach and scale, network building, and complex thinking.
The literature mapping reveals increasing trends in CS frameworks (focused on prevention/control, project design/evaluation, and education/research), but highlights the need to systematically integrate citizens’ cognitive development.
This text is valuable for modules on CS project design and evaluation, open science policy, and social impact analytics. It offers an operational vocabulary (ToC dimensions and eight components) to diagnose existing projects, plan transitions toward “Full-cycle CS,” and align learning objectives that include complex thinking.
Based on its framework, instructors can design rubrics using the eight components, create ToC roadmaps for local projects, and compare CS frameworks in terms of inclusion, data ethics, scalability, and quintuple helix articulation.
---
How to Cite: Sanabria-Z, J. C., Molina Espinosa, J. M., Alfaro Ponce, B. ., & Vycudilíková-Outlá, M. . (2022). A Threshold for Citizen Science Projects: Complex Thinking as a Driver of Holistic Development. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 25(2), 113–131. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.25.2.33052
