Elementary school students' knowledge of botany, the importance of plants, and the recognition of the most common plant species in their immediate environment is very often scarce and prone to misconceptions. Nowadays, when children spend less and less time in nature and more and more with televisions and video games, it is challenging to interest children in the plants that surround them and to raise their awareness about the environment in order to preserve and care for nature. Although they understand the importance of plants to some extent, their lack of interest and knowledge often limits them from becoming more significantly involved in social activities related to the environment and nature protection. Therefore, the aim of this work was to try to involve elementary school students in citizen science activities related to invasive alien plant species detection and recognition, using the Croatian Bioblitz event 2025. Namely, citizen science is recognized as a valid approach to scientific research and one of the ways in which citizen science can be applied in biology is certainly the Bioblitz. This is a form of short-term research in a specific area, involving interested citizens (students, in this case), led and coordinated by experts, with the aim of collecting a large amount of data. Invasive alien species are one of the major threats to biodiversity and early detection is crucial for preventing their spread and damages. The research was conducted in May 2025, participation was voluntary, and participants were seventh-grade elementary school students in the city of Samobor (north-western Croatia). Before going into the field, expert botanists gave the students a short lecture on invasive alien plant species and their mapping and reporting using the Invasive Species in Croatia application. Collected data were validated by experts and are publicly available through the IAS information system https://invazivnevrste.haop.hr/. In the area of the city of Samobor, six invasive alien plant taxa were recorded (Acer negundo, Erigeron annuus, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Reynoutria spp., Robinia pseudoacacia and Veronica persica). Students recorded 345 findings, which is about 20% of the total findings during the Bioblitz 2025 in Croatia (data for the entire Croatia is still in the validation process). The most common taxa recorded were Erigeron annuus and Reynoutria spp. A more detailed presentation and analysis of all collected data will be discussed in our presentation. We can conclude that the benefits of implementing citizen science and Bioblitz in school are multiple. For the students, it was a fun (relaxed, outside the classroom and with symbolic rewards for participation) and interesting (using mobile phones) way of learning, which made them realize that they were doing something useful for the entire community. In addition, some students became extremely interested in the project and continued to map invasive plants even after the official end of the Bioblitz. For experts, involving and training young people means obtaining more valuable field data and encouraging and maintaining young people's interest in botany and the issue of invasive plants. For the wider community, such actions are important because they enable the formation of future conscientious citizens, experts and/or volunteers, dedicated to the well-being of both people and the environment.

Keywords: Bioblitz, botany, education, Invasive Species in Croatia App, elementary school students.