2020/03/15 by Shem Unger, Mark Rollins, Allison Tietz +1 · 6 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Psychology · #Animal and Plant Science Education #Diverse Educational Innovations Studies #Species Distribution and Climate Change
paper · doi:10.1080/00219266.2020.1739114
crossref issued 2020/03/15 · crossref published 2020/03/15 · crossref published-online 2020/03/15 · openalex publication_date 2020/03/15 · crossref created 2020/03/15 · crossref published-print 2021/10/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/02/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29 · crossref indexed 2026/07/29
We evaluated an emerging smartphone application, iNaturalist, to increase taxonomic identification and engage first-year undergraduate biology majors in outdoor laboratories of aquatic ecosystems (stream and lake ecology) and terrestrial ecosystems (tree and leaf litter ecology). Labs involved identifying organisms using both standard field guides and keys, and comparing taxonomic identifications using the iNaturalist smartphone application derived from student images of organisms. Students were given post-laboratory surveys which assessed their preference for this increasingly popular smartphone application, whether they were more likely to use the application in the future and rate its ability and ease of use to properly identify organisms compared to traditional keys/field guides. This iNaturalist application worked most consistently for students with terrestrial organisms, when images were of sufficient quality. However, when only medium-high to high-quality photos were used, iNaturalist identifications ranged from 92.3% to 97.3% proper biological taxonomic classifications to standard organismal levels for an introductory biology course. Overall, iNaturalist provided greater taxonomic resolution with proper scientific and common names and additional natural history information for many organisms, piquing student interest. Incorporating this smartphone technology may increase identification of local biodiversity and student engagement in the biological sciences.