ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the scope for citizen science and how it can support inquiry from informal to formal learning. It demonstrates iSpot's approaches to, and experiences of, learning, which are authentic, the experience of real scientific research and personalised, meaningful and relevant to the individual. iSpotnature.org is a citizen science initiative that facilitates citizen inquiry in practice, promoting a view that, in addition to the value of the data from citizen scientists, the process of inquiry and the way learning is supported are key. The methodology outlined in the chapter is centred on iSpot's approach: a learning design framed by a five-step model, leading from exploration of nature through to recognised learning actions: exploring nature, identifying wildlife, contributing observations, personalising experience, and Recognised formal learning. The iSpot quiz was developed and integrated in 2013 to understand better and assess how iSpot community learn from the site. iSpot provides opportunities for informal learning, and quiz provides a framework for self-assessing this.
