Frontier Science: What makes a spider fly and does it matter? These and other stories from the Open Air Laboratories project

How clean is the air that surrounds you where you live or that you breathe on your walk to school or work? Are there as many plants and animals as there should there be in your garden or local park and does this number matter? These kinds of starter questions have been used successfully to engage children and adults across different communities in a Citizen Science initiative called the ‘Open Air Laboratories Project’. Insights gained have helped shape the creation and implementation of scientific learning resources that can be adapted for use different settings, to improve understanding not only of our environment, but of more complex ideas such as ‘connectivity’ and ‘change’.