IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i2p735-d480015.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning Plant Biodiversity in Nature: The Use of the Citizen–Science Platform iNaturalist as a Collaborative Tool in Secondary Education

Author

Listed:
  • Andres Echeverria

    (Institute for Multidisciplinary Applied Biology (IMAB), Public University of Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Idoia Ariz

    (Institute for Multidisciplinary Applied Biology (IMAB), Public University of Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain
    Departamento de Biología Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Navarra, E-31008 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Judit Moreno

    (Institute for Multidisciplinary Applied Biology (IMAB), Public University of Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Javier Peralta

    (Department of Sciences, Public University of Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Esther M. Gonzalez

    (Institute for Multidisciplinary Applied Biology (IMAB), Public University of Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain)

Abstract

Biodiversity is a concept of great scientific interest and social value studied in different subjects of the secondary education curriculum. Citizen–science programs may contribute to increasing the engagement of students when studying biodiversity. This work aimed to explore the use of the citizen–science platform iNaturalist as a complement of the elaboration of herbaria in an outdoor activity for 4th course 16-year-old students in the Basaula Reserve. The platform iNaturalist was chosen for its suitability to develop collaborative projects in an educational context. The Basaula project was created and 122 students were trained to record plant species in an outdoor activity. A total of 32 species were recorded, among them the most abundant were beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) and holm oak ( Quercus ilex ). The students positively evaluated their experience, highlighting its adequacy to record biodiversity data and make a virtual herbarium. Students valued the innovative character of iNaturalist and its usefulness for research but also the opportunity to integrate mobile devices in school education. We concluded that iNaturalist is a valuable tool to carry out collaborative projects dealing with biodiversity in secondary education.

Suggested Citation

  • Andres Echeverria & Idoia Ariz & Judit Moreno & Javier Peralta & Esther M. Gonzalez, 2021. "Learning Plant Biodiversity in Nature: The Use of the Citizen–Science Platform iNaturalist as a Collaborative Tool in Secondary Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:735-:d:480015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/735/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/735/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melchor Gómez-García & Roberto Soto-Varela & Juan Agustín Morón-Marchena & María José del Pino-Espejo, 2020. "Using Mobile Devices for Educational Purposes in Compulsory Secondary Education to Improve Student’s Learning Achievements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, May.
    2. Irmeli Palmberg & Sirpa Kärkkäinen & Eila Jeronen & Eija Yli-Panula & Christel Persson, 2019. "Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-19, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Juan-Francisco Álvarez-Herrero, 2023. "Urban Itineraries with Smartphones to Promote an Improvement in Environmental Awareness among Secondary School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Gheorghe-Gavrilă Hognogi & Monika Meltzer & Filip Alexandrescu & Lucrina Ștefănescu, 2023. "The role of citizen science mobile apps in facilitating a contemporary digital agora," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Magdalena Roszczyńska-Kurasińska & Nina Wróblewska, 2023. "Technological Innovations for Citizen Environmental Participation: Case of Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Gloria Martínez-Sagarra & Felipe Castilla & Francisco Pando, 2022. "Seven Hundred Projects in iNaturalist Spain: Performance and Lessons Learned," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, September.
    5. Terence Fell & Tove Rydenstam & Benti Geleta Buli & Abby C. King & Katarina Bälter, 2021. "Citizen Science in Sweden’s Stigmatized Neighborhoods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Małgorzata Gawlik-Kobylińska, 2021. "Can Security and Safety Education Support Sustainability? Lessons Learned from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Maria Panitsa & Nikolia Iliopoulou & Emmanouil Petrakis, 2021. "Citizen Science, Plant Species, and Communities’ Diversity and Conservation on a Mediterranean Biosphere Reserve," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-11, September.
    8. Larissa Braz Sousa & Stephen Fricker & Cameron E. Webb & Katherine L. Baldock & Craig R. Williams, 2022. "Citizen Science Mosquito Surveillance by Ad Hoc Observation Using the iNaturalist Platform," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-18, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sana Sadiq & Khadija Anasse & Najib Slimani, 2022. "The impact of mobile phones on high school students: connecting the research dots," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 30(1), pages 252-270, April.
    2. Melchor Gómez-García & Hassan Hossein-Mohand & Juan Manuel Trujillo-Torres & Hossein Hossein-Mohand & Inmaculada Aznar-Díaz, 2020. "Technological Factors That Influence the Mathematics Performance of Secondary School Students," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-14, November.
    3. Manuel-Jesús Perea-Rodríguez & Juan-Agustín Morón-Marchena & María-Carmen Muñoz-Díaz & David Cobos-Sanchiz, 2021. "Adult Education: A Sustainable Model for the Reduction of Psychosocial and Educational Risks Caused by COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Lili-Ann Wolff & Tuula H. Skarstein, 2020. "Species Learning and Biodiversity in Early Childhood Teacher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Melchor Gómez-García & Hossein Hossein-Mohand & Juan Manuel Trujillo-Torres & Hassan Hossein-Mohand, 2020. "The Training and Use of ICT in Teaching Perceptions of Melilla’s (Spain) Mathematics Teachers," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Nabila Nurul Hawa & Sharifah Zarina Syed Zakaria & Muhammad Rizal Razman & Nuriah Abd Majid, 2021. "Geography Education for Promoting Sustainability in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    7. María Consuelo Sáiz-Manzanares & Sara Gutiérrez-González & Ángel Rodríguez & Lourdes Alameda Cuenca-Romero & Verónica Calderón & Miguel Ángel Queiruga-Dios, 2020. "Systematic Review on Inclusive Education, Sustainability in Engineering: An Analysis with Mixed Methods and Data Mining Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:735-:d:480015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.