Waterberg Academy iNaturalist project - Starting 22 October

The learners of the senior grades or the Academy will be introduced to iNaturalist by Nigel Barker (Dept. Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria) on 22nd October.

The project will be launched at the school on Friday the 22nd October, and Prof. Barker and some colleagues will visit the school and spend an hour talking to the Grade 6-11 learners and providing hands on training in how to use the app and maximize on the learning experiences it can offer. This will be done outdoors in the school grounds.

The contributions made by the learners to iNaturalist for the school grounds will be monitored, and feedback will be provided to the Head of the School on a weekly basis, indicating (for example) number of plant, insect, vertebrate etc. species recorded, most interesting observation, best photograph, etc. This information can be included in announcements at assemblies, and in the School newsletter.

The project will run from 22 October to the 19th November (4 weeks) and at the end of this period, book prizes will be awarded to the leaners for the following categories (all restricted to observations made on the Academy Grounds):

• Most interesting (e.g. rare, unusual, novel etc.) species recorded
• Most plant species recorded
• Most insect species recorded
• Most vertebrate species recorded
• Best photographer (most consistent and informative set of pictures submitted)

While this project will only run for 4 weeks at the school, learners are obviously encouraged to continue to use the app wherever to travel and live, but for this project, the area of focus will be the Waterberg Academy property. Observations made by learners beyond the school property and the time frame for the project will also be valuable, as they will contribute to our greater understanding of the biodiversity of the region.

Posted on 18 October, 2021 14:36 by nigel_barker