20.500.12556/RUL-179228 Preservice teachers as citizen scientists using iNaturalist iNaturalist is a growing citizen science (CS) tool with great potential for biology education. Given the urgency of the biodiversity crisis, it is critical to raise awareness among preservice teachers (PT) as they impact future generations. Citizen Science has proven to be an effective educational tool. Activities with the iNaturalist application were conducted with preservice primary school teachers (PST) and biology teachers (BST) in Slovenian undergraduate programs to assess the educational impact and quality of students’ contributions. 139 PT participated in a month-long data collection (Bioblitz) as part of their science courses. A quantitative approach was used to achieve our research objectives. Quality of the students’ observations and their activity patterns were analyzed using students’ observational data. Subsequently, their interests in nature and science, their self-efficacy in learning and doing science, and their self-efficacy in environmental action were assessed using a Likert scale questionnaire. The results indicate that the PT groups were similar in observation quality and activity patterns. Overall, observation quality was high (score 3.92/5 points) but limited by photo clarity and the lack of multi-angle photos. Both groups showed interest and confidence in the activity, with BSTs demonstrating greater confidence in science-related tasks. 25.2% of participants continued using the application after the activity concluded with significantly more BSTs than PSTs. These findings suggest that iNaturalist can serve as an effective tool for outdoor learning among diverse groups of preservice teachers. With appropriate training, they can use iNaturalist effectively even without an extensive background in biological sciences. iNaturalist citizen science biology subject teacher primary school teacher education outdoor education self-efficacy Rasch analysis biodiversity education iNaturalist bodoči učitelji učitelj biologije biotska raznovrstnost občanska znanost true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-02-09 10:57:47 2026-02-09 10:57:48 2026-02-10 04:26:31 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 21 str. iss. 1, art. 83 Vol. 5 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 378:57 2731-5525 10.1007/s44217-025-01087-0 267752963 RAZ_Rode_Zan_2026.pdf RAZ_Rode_Zan_2026.pdf 1 D282B864EE9E2065E1026EBCBB506279 a37e1e78f261b7b7aef061f69fbdaa8471dbdd0948e151ac68234cb2545bab12 a1f650e7-059e-11f1-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=227532 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44217-025-01087-0 1 a858fb98-059d-11f1-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=227531 Pedagoška fakulteta 0 0 0