We appreciate understanding the living environment around us. Not only for the fact of knowing plants and animals, but for understanding our place or our niche in the ecosystem. For me this developed over time.

I spent most of my time outdoors as a kid. My bike was my portal to other places, and the climbing tree was my meditative space. I look back at my childhood thankful for this time spent outside. However, as a kid I was often frustrated with my parents for limiting the amount of screen time I had to one hour each day. I thought this was evil while my friends played all afternoon. Exploring virtual worlds is an intoxicating experience.

iNaturalist provides tools for exploring the living and natural world around us! In REAL life. Rather than leveling up a virtual character, what if we improved our "real world" statistics. I wonder if we could create an atmosphere of exploration associated with understanding our natural environment, if students would be more inclined to get outside and explore?

Biology curriculums in schools have become distant from the natural world. Students are learning from videos, books, and experiments all in the classroom. Don't get me wrong, these procedures are important. However, students also need time outdoors exploring their local environment. Hands on! I think iNaturalist can help. Not only can we get out to take photos, but there is a community of environmentalist to help in the identification process. Not only can we read about other people's findings, but we can keep journals about our discoveries and thoughts along the way.

This post is to introduce my intention: to learn how to use this application in an education setting to inspire students to explore their natural world.

If anyone has applied iNaturalist in a classroom please let me know your thoughts!