This activity uses the citizen science tool iNaturalist for a project for high school and college students that focus on species discovery and identification.  Observations are uploaded to a class project on iNaturalist, then students take their observations and enter them on a bingo sheet and get extra credit points for how many bingo rows they get filled in at the end.

This species bingo activity is different from a Bioblitz on iNaturalist in that it is focused on a particular set of species that the students should find and learn, observe and upload. During a bioblitz you try to find any and all species in a specific area.

The two bingo sheets presented here are for New Jersey, USA, and have been used in a Fall semester class in Plant Diversity and Evolution at Rutgers University.  The sheets and instructions can be easily modified by you (the teacher) to fit any time and region.

Here is an example of a bingo sheet from 2019.

wild plants bingo sheet.png

Example of class project page on iNaturalist: Rutgers University’s Plant Diversity Evolution 2019

Screenshot 2020-03-12 23.23.09

Developer and Copyright holder: Lena Struwe. Feel free to modify this activity and the files to fit your own needs as a teacher.

Downloads:

Teacher’s Guide (pdf); also make sure to read the teacher’s guide on the iNaturalist website:
iNaturalist Species Bingo - teacher's guide (pdf) (425 downloads)

Student Instructions (docx):
iNaturalist Species Bingo Student instructions (docx) (349 downloads)

Two bingo sheets for 50 plants of the northeastern USA in the summer/fall; one sheet for 25 wild plants, and the other for 25 ethnobotanical plants (xlsx):
iNaturalist Species Bingo 50 plants (xls) (340 downloads)

Teacher’s Grading Rubric (xlsx):
iNaturalist Species Bingo Teacher's Grading Rubric (270 downloads)

Presentation slides (pdf): Lecture about iNaturalist for plant species bingo (339 downloads)