Young people in iNaturalist: a blended learning framework for biodiversity monitoring

Abstract

Participation in authentic research in the field and online through Community and Citizen Science (CCS) has shown to bring learning benefits to volunteers. In online CCS, available platforms present distinct features, ranging from scaffolding the process of data collection, to supporting data analysis and enabling volunteers to initiate their own studies. What is yet not well understood is how best to design CCS programmes that are educational, inclusive, and accessible by diverse volunteers, including young people and those with limited prior science experiences who are rather few in CCS. In this study, we interviewed 31 young people, aged 7–20 years old, who used iNaturalist, an online biodiversity monitoring platform, and identified how different forms of participation online and in the field facilitated (or inhibited) certain forms of learning, as defined by the Environmental Science Agency framework. Findings revealed that iNaturalist enabled participation of young people including those with limited science experiences and facilitated science learning such as the development of science competence and understanding. A blended learning framework for biodiversity monitoring in CCS is presented as a means to support the development of hybrid, educational, and inclusive CCS programmes for young people.

Citizen science is a vital partnership for invasive alien species management and research

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“…This crowdsourcing approach has been particularly successful on web-or mobile-based platforms such as eBird and iNaturalist (Chandler et al, 2017 ;Wood et al, 2011 ). Individuals submit records to these platforms for various reasons, including a desire to contribute to science and engage with cutting-edge technologies (Herodotou et al, 2023 ;Kaplan Mintz et al, 2023 ). By making the process more enjoyable (i.e.…”

Boosting biodiversity monitoring using smartphone-driven, rapidly accumulating community-sourced data

“…This crowdsourcing approach has been particularly successful on web- or mobile-based platforms such as eBird and iNaturalist ( Chandler et al, 2017 ; Wood et al, 2011 ). Individuals submit records to these platforms for various reasons, including a desire to contribute to science and engage with cutting-edge technologies ( Herodotou et al, 2024 ; Kaplan Mintz et al, 2023 ). By making the process more enjoyable (i.e.…”