Insect ID Quiz
Project Lead: Issy Sexton
Contact: BuzzClub@sussex.ac.uk
Status: Sign up before August to take part. The project will run August to mid-September
Why choose this project?
At the Buzz Club, we are interested in finding out more about the pollinators and other insects in our gardens, with the help of citizen scientists. Often it is important that our volunteers can identify different types of insects, so that they can collect useful data.
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We want to find out how good our volunteers are at this, and whether receiving an insect identification training session helps. We'd also like to find out which types of insect people struggle to identify.
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Last year...
Last year we trained 236 volunteers how to identify bee species and their sex. We got lots of great feedback from you all (see some below) - a big thanks!
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This year we want to test out how effective the training is in terms of the retention of information. Participants will be trained on how to identify 10 species of butterfly and 10 species of hoverfly and then given the quizzes at staggered time periods after the training.
What do you get out of this project?
All ages and abilities can take part in this project, learning how to ID insects with more confidence and learning new fun insect facts along the way! This project is not very time consuming, meaning it is a great project that everyone can get involved with!
It doesn't matter if you have any prior knowledge in Insect ID, we need people from all different backgrounds to take part in this project. We would like to ensure that our citizen scientists learn lots when volunteering with the Buzz Club, as well as gaining enjoyment from collecting data with confidence in their knowledge.
What do you need to do?
Every volunteer for this project will take two 10 minute insect ID quizzes and attend a training webinar delivered by us. Everyone will be given the first quiz in early August (dates TBC) and then will be invited to a training webinar. After this, the participants will be randomly split into groups. Each group will be given their second quiz at a different time interval after the training to test retention rates.
Your feedback from previous years!
Always enjoy learning especially when it augments understanding of the natural world. The webinar was excellent and related form to function and ecology, making it more than a 'identification by numbers - Phill Elliott
The whole project was delivered in an accessible, inviting, un-intimidating way and I loved the reciprocal nature of it too i.e. that our collective information will be used to improve training and engagement, in turn further benefitting our insects and the natural world...all freely given. Thank you so much!
A chance to improve in a supportive environment and being treated as an adult learner and that mistakes are just that ie not being made to feel belittled if an answer is wrong. The training via Zoom was delivered in a well paced professional manner. Thank you.