Using iNaturalist with Students, Especially Remotely

20 posts were split to a new topic: My experience as a student using iNat in Higher Education

I think one of the best ways to use iNat with students is through projects that feature unique places. For instance, take a virtual field trip to whichever park you wish. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-park-service

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That’s actually an awesome idea. I like that.

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Teachers could require that students display a real attempt at ID for all their observations, using physical or online keys. That ID, and link/reference to guide, could be placed in the observation’s description. They would be directed not to actually register that ID. Teachers could also evaluate students on their continued interaction with community. Or on finding something in each of listed target taxa (whatever). But I agree, having an explicit nudge toward using guides would be valuable for students of all ages.

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I remember, back in the day, penpals was a big thing. Our school/class (in the 70s) had contact with another school/class overseas and we would be given a name from that other class. We would write and receive letters with that other student throughout the year. I wonder if we couldn’t have similar sorts of experience here in iNat…

I imagine that we could partner up with another iNat member from a different country, and after a few emails introducing each other a little more indepth than the profile description might do, we could then take turns at picking one of our favourite (own) observations and sharing why it is so special. We can elaborate on what the trip was about, who it was with, what we have found out about that species, and so on.

Of course, in the school example of penpals, there was an implied vetting of participants in that it was school classes, and there was supervision and even censorship to an extent by the teachers involvement. How that would factor in an iNat sense I am not sure…

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love it! and of course, everyone is encouraged to try new things. I ain’t eating the mynah though… I’ll lick the feathers but that’s as far as I’m going :D

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The analogy that I like most for iNat, is that it is a great hall that everyone comes to with their weird and whacky show-n-tells. iNat provide the venue, the guidelines on behaviour, the few rules that shalt be followed, and even (by virtue of it’s internet form) a library of resources and plethora of services, not least of which I would rate the translations services (Google Translate but also other iNatters) that allow it to be an international meeting place that welcomes all.

But, just like a hall, it is truly what it is most when it is full of people… discussing, sharing, assisting, organising, dreaming…

As someone that finds crowds of people to be intimidating and anxiety provoking (even the library has me on edge), I most like the fact that I can fill it with as many people at any given time as I am comfortable with! Perhaps that is going to be a huge factor in the appeal of iNat during this time of social panic and travel restrictions and bans on large gatherings and such…

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I just created a primer for teachers unfamiliar with iNaturalist on accessing iNat data to teach biomes, food webs, migrations. I actually used National Parks to teach food webs. I’m adding the umbrella project as a resource. Great share!

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That is cool!

Slide 3 bottom line seems confusing: “where it was made and that observations distribution map.” Should it be “that observations location map”?

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I think of inat as a really fancy mutual field notebook.

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I put together this inquiry based lesson that asks students to compare biodiversity in two locations using inaturalist data. I’ll admit it needs some work but I’ll put it out there for anyone who wants to adapt and use it. Please share any modifications you make or positive experiences.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UhwmE-jU9s4wNsSZuhHuCjDLBob9trOSFbrn-2bAE7g/edit?usp=sharing

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You are not supposed to ‘handle’ the evidence. Let alone EAT it ;~)

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Riding my bike today I passed two mothers with their kids who had just identified a road-side plant with Seek.

They were social distancing - a family unit outdoors, but were getting excited by a new plant (California flannelbush). The kids were jumping up and down saying “we found a new species!”.

I stopped to take my own iNat picture as they proceeded, and when I passed them again they were shouting about a cool yellow flower.

This is iNat doing good in the world!

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When you minus out of the location map on the observation info card, you can see where else that organism was documented on iNaturalist, i.e. its distribution.

The wording on the slide is clunky. Need to rethink it. Thank you for highlighting that.

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Hello @chriswidmaier

Nice activity!

A clarifying question: is hacking the url part of the lesson? Because your students could set up a bounding box in a couple of different ways.

  1. They could search the city in the location search box. This will give them a quadrat demarcated by a bounding box that they could bookmark.
  2. The student could plus in till they get the geo-spatial area they want and then hit Re-do search in map which sets a bounding box. They could also bookmark this.
  3. If they have an account and 50 or more observations, they can set up a quadrat as a community curated place to the exact specs they need.

I’d love to hear what your students come up with. This is a great inquiry based lesson.

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This is related and may stimulate some new ideas about using iNat, so I’m forwarding from Greg Eaton at Lynchberg:

For what it’s worth, I’m registered for this webinar. Coming up April 8.

Undergraduate Field Experiences Research Network (UFERN) webinar

Wednesday, April 8⋅4:00 – 5:00pm

Description:

To Join the Webinar

Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:

Please click this URL to join. https://zoom.us/w/965606925?tk=bFo81_EpOLkMm_pYKv0u4Tvtuuxr_eZ-mJPUrEu0fas.DQEAAAAAOY3-DRY1ME1ZZjJVelJKeW90N2xROUQ2YkVnAA&pwd=UjVRV0RuZzRYNis5VHFJYXpKZnBjQT09&uuid=WN_Wb-_qxxJSjOh7pOR2p5ibg

To Cancel This Registration

You can cancel your registration at any time.

The Undergraduate Field Experiences Research Network (UFERN) is pleased to announce the April 2020 webinar in our ongoing series focused on 21st-century field education.

Please join us on April 8th at 1 pm PDT/4 pm EDT/April 9th 8am NZST

The webinar will feature presenters, Dr. Benjamin Kennedy and Dr. Jonathan Davidson. Possibly a very timely webinar as many of us are facing decisions about moving classes and resources online. Ben and Johnathan will present, Virtually Field tripping- what works?

Through online platforms, they bring the field to the student. Bringing both experience and data, Ben and Jonathan will illustrate how to support field learning experiences brought to students when learning in situ is not possible.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER for the LIVE WEBINAR, April 8 @ 1 PM Pacific/4PM Eastern/ April 9 @ 8 AM New Zealand

Dr. Kennedy, Associate Professor in Physical Volcanology at the University of Canterbury and Dr. Jonathan Davidson, Crustal Modelling Technician at the University of Canterbury will join us from New Zealand for the webinar and share their expertise and insights on an innovative educational approach, virtual field trips, and hi-tech gaming, as a way to gain access to otherwise inaccessible situations or localities, such as students drilling into a magma chamber.

To find out more about UFERN visit our website at http://ufern.net/ or join in a conversation about virtual field trips at UFERN’s LinkedIn Group Page or follow us on Twitter @ufern_network

UFERN Project Team

Kari O’Connell, PI

Kelly Hoke, project coordinator

Kelly L. Hoke, M.S., Human Development & Family Studies

Researcher The STEM Research Center

Kelly.hoke@oregonstate.edu

Oregon State University, 254 Gilbert Hall
Corvallis, OR 97330

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Thought I’d share this use of iNat for remote learning: https://intersectingpaths.home.blog/2020/04/13/inaturalist-exploration/

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We’re wondering what to do about our annual BioBlitz, and it occurred to me that we could do it virtually by having it last longer and asking people to not come all together, combined with some pre- and post-event Zoom meetings to talk to everyone and answer questions.

Then I thought maybe we don’t need to tie the Blitz to any particular place. Rather, encourage people to look around and make observations near their homes. Is there a way to run a BioBlitz by defining participants, instead of a Place?

Also, this is a cool idea!

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Yes indeed, check out the new “project members only” setting.

Thanks, Carrie!

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