Education and Outreach are critical components of iDigBio’s overall mission to highlight the importance of biodiversity collections and digitization efforts. E&O efforts include engaging the public through informational resources, compelling deliverables and opportunities to participate. In addition, iDigBio is with its partners in developing biodiversity and digitization-related educational resources for K-12, fostering public participation activities for life-long learners, and providing links to educational resources and activities.

 

 

 

Learn more and get involved through the iDigBio Education and Outreach Working Group.

ADBC Educational Resources

  • Find modules and lesson plans related to natural history collections for:

Collections Education Coffee Break Series

These are short 30-minute virtual sessions featuring a natural history collections-focused education or outreach resource created as part of the Advancing Digitization of  Biodiversity Collections program. Find the schedule and recordings here.

More Resources Across ADBC

ESB: Help document marine mollusks of the North American Eastern Seaboard on iNaturalist.

DigIn: Visit their outreach page to find educational videos about marine invertebrates and more!

GLOBAL: Visit their education page for resources and links relating to the Building a Global Consortium of Bryophytes and Lichens Project.

CAP: Find all their educational materials including illustrated guides, and teaching modules, or check out the project’s blog.

oVert: Find K-12 lesson plans developed by teachers, educational videos on their YouTube channel, and curated 3D models on their SketchFab page.

PaleoNICHES & Cretaceous World TCNs: Digital Atlas of Ancient Life: Get digital atlases for fossils from the Ordovician, Pennsylvanian, Cretaceous, and Neogene, find fossil guides, access a Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life (DEAL) and get the mobile friendly App.

EPICC:  Virtual Field Experiences allow you to explore fossil-rich field sites just like a scientist would. Visit the website for lesson plans, videos, interactive maps and so much more.

FIC and Cretaceous World: has the educational portal iDigPaleo. This portal offers educators and students unique tools and resources to access insect specimens.

SERNEC (Southeastern Herbaria): Find lessons plans and activities associated with Notes from Nature, WeDigBio, and more!

Great Lakes Invasives Network: Have created Identification Guides to aquatic invasive plants to assist landowners, land managers, and citizen scientists in identifying aquatic invasive plants in the Great Lakes.

LepNet: Visit LepNet to find learning tools and resources, LepSnap App, and the LepXplor pilot program.

Lichens, Bryophytes and Climate Change: Learn about lichens and bryophytes, search the lichen and bryophyte portals, and get involved!

MyCoPortal: Search the portal for mycological collections, find fungi checklists for your area, play name that fungus, and get involved! The MicroFungi TCN (MiCC) has an education page too.

The Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis: Check out their video series on research using collections with MAM students.

SoRo: Help the SoRo project document biodiversity at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory using iNaturalist.

Macroalgae: Watch the Macroalgae in Our Lives video, Search the Macroalgal Herbarium Portal and create checklists for your area.

New England Vascular Plants: Help them digitize, find botanical species lists, and search the Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria

Tri-Trophic: Visit the Discover Life webpage to find lesson plans, activities, and other information for science teachers and students.

 

Libraries of Life Collection Cards were created by the iDigBio Augmented Reality Public Education/Outreach Working Group. The fifteen cards each feature a different project funded by NSF's Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections program, and each card launches a 3D model in the mobile device's viewer that brings specimens to life for the public. The cards are available to download and print through the app, and further resources are available at www.libraries-of-life.org, including educational materials.

 

 

Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections, or WeDigBio, is a 4-day event that engages participants online and onsite in digitizing natural history collections. Onsite events are hosted by museums, herbaria, universities, and other institutions and enable face to face meetups where participants engage with local collections.

 

iDigBio has several article series published through the iDigBio Spotlight e-newsletter highlighting biodiversity, natural history collections, and new research. Subscribe to the newsletter or check out the archives for:

    • Biodiversity Spotlights: Get more background on some of the organisms found in the portal by reading the monthly Biodiversity Spotlight.
    • Research Spotlights: Learn about what scientists are learning from collections by reading the monthly Research Spotlight.
    • Portal Curiosities: Find some of the extraordinary specimens within the portal by checking out the Portal Curiosities Series.
    • Coding Corner: Did you know that iDigBio has an R programing package? Learn how to explore data in the specimen portal using "ridigbio".

Meet the People Behind iDigBio

Adania Flemming is a Masters student and research assistant with iDigBio. Her research interests involve using biological collections to help answer ecological hypotheses. She is passionate about education and is involved with Education and Outreach activities for iDigBio including citizen science efforts such as the Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) event and tabling with iDigBio at other outreach efforts (She’s a scientist, and Earth Day, etc.). She is also a member of the Education and Outreach Working Group. Adania is part of the group working to create a best practices white paper which can be shared with the greater collections community, and will attend Association of Science Technology Centers (ASTC) Conference 2017 as a panel discussion moderator to get more input for this paper.

Just Added to the Portal

Acidaspis sp.


Specimen Thumbnail
  • Collector:
  • George Oeh
  • Locality:
  • North America; USA; Ohio; Hamilton County; Cincinnati
  • Provider ID:
  • urn:uuid:6b99598f-b496-4f3a-b9e6-01046812a36e
see record >>
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