The Citizen Science Program

Students conducting their citizen science monitoring in their very own Miaywaki forest right in the school grounds.

STEM education in action

The Miyawaki Forest Outreach Program brings environmental action and STEM learning into schools. The program was recognised as one of UNESCO's 150 'Green Citizens' projects in 2021.

In the program, students get their hands dirty collecting food and other organics waste from within their school and the broader community to generate compost for forest site soil remediation. Then they plant their very own pocket forest. 

Following planting, students act as citizen scientists, monitoring their Miyawaki forest as it grows, under the stewardship and guidance of program lead Dr Grey Coupland and the Murdoch University team. Students collect data on variables such as plant growth rates and survivorship, animal diversity, temperature regimes inside and outside their pocket forest.

Students use the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development 'MyPestGuide Recorder' and iNaturalist to record the animals observed in their forest.

There are huge physical and mental health and well being benefits from just spending time in nature. So growing your own pocket forest is at the next level!

We hope the program will inspire the next generation of scientists and eco-warriors.

A child wearing a red hat and teal shirt crouches on a dried grassy area measuring a plant with a tape measure, surrounded by bushes and trees.
A person holding a black fuzzy caterpillar on their hand, with grass and part of their clothing visible in the background.
Two children crouch in a garden or farm, recording data on a clipboard, with one child holding a soil tester or plant health device, surrounded by plants and a metal fence.
A young student dressed in a red shirt and hat, standing among green plants in a garden or schoolyard, taking notes on a clipboards with a measuring tape hanging nearby during daytime.
A close-up of a hoverfly on a pink and white flower with green foliage in the background.
Two children, wearing blue hats and blue uniforms, are outdoors near green bushes and trees, looking at and reaching towards a tall pole or stick.
A young boy in a blue school uniform holding a small black insect or caterpillar on his palm, outdoors in a garden or conservatory with other children in the background.
Two children with hats in a botanical garden, one squatting and writing, the other standing and observing, surrounded by various plants and shrubs.
Two children, a girl and a boy, are outdoors among green plants. The girl is kneeling and writing in a notebook with a clipboard, while the boy is crouching down and looking closely at something on the ground. Both are wearing hats and blue sweatshir