Researcher App- Become a researcher and investigate how climate change affects animals, plants and society.

Climate change is quickly affecting ecosystems and will have far reaching impacts on the environment, regional economies, and society at large. Today, children are highly influenced by the media when it comes to knowledge of conservation and climate change. However, the global perspective to climate change disseminated by the media can be difficult for most children and young adults to understand. Thus, it is important to promote and explain climate change research among the younger generations. With this background, we wish to make children aware of how researchers approach climate change related issues and how and why climate change issues impact society. In order to achieve this, NIBIO Svanhovd has developed a game with the use of App-software technology together with Vitenparken in Aas, a science center dedicated to communication of green science. The game starts with the encounter between a young research assistant and a brown bear in the middle of winter. The bear should be sleeping, why is the bear not hibernating? This starting point gives way to a series of discoveries by the young research assistant who, guided by senior researchers, must investigate and understand the reason behind these strange events. The child will become familiar through out the game with important scientific terms such as ecosystem services, climate change and phenology, and it should motivate the child to see a career in science as an exciting career choice. The game is part of a new child friendly exhibition at NIBIO Svanhovd, an R&D institute and National Park visitor centre located in northern Norway, and at Vitenparken in Ås.

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Climate change is quickly affecting ecosystems and will have far reaching impacts on the environment, regional economies, and society at large. Today, children are highly influenced by the media when it comes to knowledge of conservation and climate change. However, the global perspective to climate change disseminated by the media can be difficult for most children and young adults to understand. Thus, it is important to promote and explain climate change research among the younger generations. With this background, we wish to make children aware of how researchers approach climate change related issues and how and why climate change issues impact society. In order to achieve this, NIBIO Svanhovd will develop a game with the use of App-software technology together with Vitenparken in Aas, a science centre dedicated to communication of green science. In the game, children will be led through the basic research steps: creating hypothesis, choosing methods, interpretation of results and finally, by introducing the concept of ecosystem services, how can society benefit from research in a multidisciplinary way. The starting point of the game will be how climate change affects a selected number of species belonging to different disciplines within natural science. The game will build and promote skills children and young adults need in the ongoing digitalization of education and society at large. The game will be a part of a new child friendly exhibition at NIBIO Svanhovd, an R&D institute and National Park visitor centre located in northern Norway, and at Vitenparken in Ås. Further, an open lecture directed towards children will be arranged at Svanhovd in late August where researchers from NIBIO Svanhovd will introduce children to climate change in a fun and engaging way. Meeting researchers directly can provide insight into the research career and encourage young people to pursue a career in science.