Many wild animals live alongside us – in the vicinity of homes, schools, and communities. The Wildlife Challenge in the School Environment invites students to participate in a citizen science project, discover the biodiversity around their school, and learn about the presence of animals in the environment and nature conservation.
The challenge will use iNaturalist, a leading global citizen science platform for documenting species in nature (learn more about iNaturalist). During the challenge, students will learn about the platform, how to use it, and its contributions to research and conservation. They will use the iNaturalist app to report species observed around their school. Their observations will be automatically uploaded to a dedicated page created for the school and will count toward a competition between participating schools: the highest number of species recorded, rare species, and interesting observations.
The school that documents the greatest number of species will win a prize, courtesy of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History!
The challenge runs throughout the month of March.
To participate, teachers must register in advance. After registration, they will receive detailed instructions for using iNaturalist, guidelines for involving students in the challenge, and lesson plans covering species diversity, citizen science, and nature conservation. Teachers will guide students in using the app, monitor the quality of observations, and lead class discussions on the findings and their ecological significance.
Registration will close on 27.2.
Cover photo by: Shahar Alterman, iNaturalist