Chicago Botanic Garden Spring 2019

chicagobotanic.org 25 Budburst is popping up in local schools this spring, as a part of a recent expansion of the Chicago Botanic Gar- den’s citizen scientist pro- gram. Students in select public schools in Waukegan and Chicago work on-site or in nearby gardens, where they are learning to collaborate, manage a living laboratory, follow the scienti c process, and collect data on the life cycle of plants. “It’s really exciting to see youth so ex- cited about nature,” remarked Jennifer Schwarz Ballard, Ph.D., vice president of Learning and Engagement at the Chicago Botanic Garden. She has been involved with Budburst since it began in 2007. “ e schools that we are working with are all really enthusiastic, and we are looking forward to begin- ning data collection this spring.” e rst school gardens were planted last fall by students in Waukegan Dis- trict 60. Black-eyed Susan, eastern red columbine, foxglove beardtongue, and New England aster are among the ow- ers now beginning to leaf out during their rst growing season. e students will be collecting that phenology and pollinator visitation information and sharing it via Budburst. All participants will gather data for a Budburst research initiative that began in 2017 to measure the unique rela- tionships between native plants and their cultivars, aptly called nativars, with pollinators. Each school will re- ceive a research garden that includes three replicates each of the selected na- tives species and its associated cultivars. Budburst was designed to encourage citizen scientists to participate in long- term data collection for use by scientists in research and publications. Since Gar- den leaders reimagined Budburst in 2017, this work continues with the ad- dition of programs that appeal to a larger number of people at di erent ages. e program’s new elements “pro- vide opportunities to involve people in the entire scienti c process, from hy- pothesis to conclusion, in a manageable time frame,” said Dr. Schwarz Ballard. e public is also welcome to gather and contribute data to the nativars project either by growing their plants at home or by monitoring the research site at the Garden. Learn more budburst.org Students become citizen scientists through Budburst gardens Anne Zahn, administrator for science STEM and accelerated programs in District 60, is eager for the students from grades 3 through middle school to expand their classroom studies into the gardens. “We look at ecosystems, we look at life cycles of plants and pollinators, so all of the pieces of Budburst t very well into the Next Generation Science Stan- dards,” she said. e program reaches 450 students at three elementary schools with on-site gardens, plus 100 students at a middle school with a garden. Nearly 3,000 ad- ditional students in nearby district schools will also collect data at these gardens. “Students love to see something they did, and create a change, so just the growth of the plants will be a big deal to them,” Zahn said. Plus, “there’s a whole list of social emotional things that this will address beside the aca- demic curriculum,” she added, noting that some students may even be in- spired to grow a garden at home. Students at ve Chicago schools are planting their study gardens this spring with help from Openlands’ Space to Grow program. Data collection begins this fall.