# Annual school bioblitz with data going back to 2007

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/annual-school-bioblitz-with-data-going-back-to-2007/48581>\
**Category:** Educators\
**Created:** [January 29, 2024, 9:31am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/annual-school-bioblitz-with-data-going-back-to-2007/48581 "2024-01-29T09:31:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![astra\_the\_dragon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/astra_the_dragon/32/37251_2.png) [@astra\_the\_dragon](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/astra_the_dragon)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 11:15am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/annual-school-bioblitz-with-data-going-back-to-2007/48581/13 "2024-01-30T11:15:01Z")

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First of all, kudos for taking the time to learn about a new tool before using it!

iNaturalist is a great resource for learning, but it can be a little complicated, and it’s not uncommon for teachers to hop on the bandwagon without understanding what they’re getting into.

> [@andrewgreen278](#):
>
> ’ve done a fair bit of searching/reading on here

the search function of Discourse (the software that hosts the forum) can be… iffy. The #Educators category is IMO the best way to get results that will help you.

You may also want to check out iNat’s Seek app, which is designed for younger citizen-scientists. It’s much more user-friendly, gives live ID suggestions (which have variable accuracy though!), and has strict privacy protections.

> [@andrewgreen278](#):
>
> ‘Project Members Only’', as we are only interested in student-gathered data.

Sounds good, and empowering. I do wonder if it might be fun, though, to also take a look at the list of species which have been identified near the school by all iNat users – just as a preview, or even a “quest list”. You can save an Explore search

eg [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=32.072892126377766&lng=34.7798709160742&photos&place\_id=any&radius=0.6705067560305986&subview=map&verifiable=any&view=species](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=32.072892126377766&lng=34.7798709160742&photos&place_id=any&radius=0.6705067560305986&subview=map&verifiable=any&view=species)

feel free to play with the filters. this is a circle from HaBima Square in Tel Aviv (where I live) that encompasses any observation with a photo – so casual, needs ID, and RG – within a few hundred meters. And looking at the “species” tab.

> [@andrewgreen278](#):
>
> so students can quickly and easily access temporal data for species

you can filter Explore results by project + date. Haven’t worked with fifth graders for ages but I wonder if they could learn how to use the search filters themselves. Seems like a good life skill / tech literacy?

> [@andrewgreen278](#):
>
> gathering the years/projects together in some way

I think there’s a way to mass import using CSV but I’ve never done it. If you do this, make a project, then use the [shiny new “add to project from Identify”](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/new-functionality-added-to-identify-and-upload-pages/48448/1) feature you could quite rapidly put it all under one project, or several if you want to essentially pre-sort the data so as not to require the students to use advanced filters.

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