STRENGTHENING 3D SPATIAL VISUALIZATION SKILLS IN AN UNDERGRADUATE GEOMORPHOLOGY COURSE: AN APPLIED APPLICATION OF ESRI'S ARCSCENE GIS EXTENSION

An essential goal in most undergraduate geomorphology courses is to help instill within the students a facility with morphologic relationships that exist between landforms and surrounding landscapes. This task is complicated by variations in three-dimensional spatial visualization skills a diverse cross-section of students bring to each course (Gerson et al. 2001; Kali et al., 1997; McGee, 1979; Orion et al. 1997; Schofield and Kirby, 1994). However, it is possible to strengthen and develop spatial visualization; it is not a fixed cognitive skill (Burnett and Lane, 1980; Eley, 1993; Utall, 2000). The complication is that the methodology used to achieve this goal, varies between individual students (Libarkin and Brick, 2002).

Geography and time often prevent a field-based geomorphology course where students develop spatial skills and transfer knowledge from the theoretical to the applied. Educators often rely on visual technology (e.g. – slides, PowerPoint, animations, movies, computer software, etc) to supplement student learning (Kali et al. 1997; Kali, 2002; Orion et al. 2000; PiBurn et al. 2002). The demerits of technology replacing physical experience may be diminished via three-dimensional “worlds” where students can develop spatial skills through interactive software (e.g. – virtual reality, geographic information systems, etc.) (Audet and Abregg, 1996; Moreno et al., 2001; Smith, 2001).

I developed a three-dimensional learning module for my undergraduate geomorphology course that utilizes the ArcScene Extension available with ESRI's ArcView software. This module challenges students to interpret and describe geomorphic landforms using traditional topographic maps and then perform similar analyses using digital versions of the same maps in ArcScene. In addition to creating 3D landforms, this software also allows students to explore the spatial relationships between landforms and the surrounding landscape via real-time flyby capabilities. A qualitative analysis of this exercise indicates that students routinely achieve a greater fluency with visualizing landforms once they “see” numerous landforms extruded in the three-dimensional environment.