On Day 2 of the Institute, we learned how to use the iNaturalist app on our phones and computers. It's a very powerful tool that allows users to interact and connect with each other to identify organisms in their environment. We were sent on a scavenger hunt around the Allen STEAM Center to find plants, frogs, and insects with the challenge to take pictures of at least 3 and submit them to iNaturalist to be identified. I can see this being a fun tool to introduce students to, and setting up a school yard scavenger hunt would be simple.
In the afternoon, we were presented with a new identification challenge. First we were presented with mystery scat, also known as poop! Our group made the observations that our scat had lots of evidence of plant eating, and was large enough to probably belong to a 4-legged creature. Next, we were presented with a plaster track. Our track indicated a medium sized organism, with long toes and claws that could be used for digging and scratching. The final element we used to identify our organism was a skull. The teeth of skull clearly gave away our organism. The beaver chews and eats wood, as well as insects in the trees, so all the evidence shows an organism adapted to its environment.