Active Explorer is a website and companion mobile app developed with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to involve young Explorers in the citizen science. Using the free app, Explorers can go on Quests to capture photos, audio, and video, create maps, make original drawings, and generally gather data about the world around them.

The data is then sent back to the website, where Explorers can make digital books, poster presentations, and even comics with the data they’ve collected and the knowledge they’ve learned from their Quests—SmartWorks as they are known at Active Explorer.

Active Explorer’s customized QuestBuilder lets Leaders (generally educators or other adults) craft Quests for the environment or situation that Explorers would experience. These Quests can then be publicly shared on the website, so other Explorers and Leaders can participate in the explorations.