PlantingSeeds’ national school citizen science B&B BioBlitz in September’s National Biodiversity Month aims to engage students and teachers in this growing public science movement and contribute much-needed biodiversity data to the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia (ALA).
The inaugural B&B BioBlitz, which aims to capture observations of pollinators and plants, is steered by environmental organisation PlantingSeeds Projects with the support of the Department of Education and the CSIRO’s ALA.
The citizen science project is responding to calls by scientific and environmental bodies such as the Office of the Chief Scientist and reports such as the recent Australian State of the Environment publication for much more Australian citizen science data.
The State of the Environment report shines the spotlight on the great need for more urban data – where schools tend to be located – as 46% of animal species of national environmental significance and 25% of plant species live in urban areas. Yet, only 5% of citizen science projects are urban-based. The potential is enormous.
Citizen scientists, now armed with Smart devices which connect to the internet and feature state of the art cameras, can upload observations of flora and fauna to databases such as iNaturalist, which channels into the ALA. They can help to fill information gaps, identify species’ declines and inform management decisions.
Dr Judy Friedlander, of PlantingSeeds Projects, says that the B&B BioBlitz project, involving primary and high school students, not only aims to contribute valuable data on species in urban and regional school grounds but also build STEM skills and educate teachers on citizen science and the multiple links to curriculum.
The BioBlitz will involve a lunch-time or recess investigative activity in school grounds in the first week of September.
Interested teachers (primary and high school) are invited to participate in a free after-school zoom workshop on Thursday, September, 1st (at 3.45pm to 4.30pm), to learn about:
- How schools can participate in the inaugural Sept National Schools B&B BioBlitz
- Citizen science, which enables students to take photographs and contribute their observations to Australian and international biodiversity databases
- How student citizen science data can help threatened plant and pollinator species, and;
- How citizen science links to State curriculums and develops STEM skills
Register for the BioBlitz and instructional package here:
https://lnkd.in/gjkkDBVd or email: info@ps.org.au