INCORPORATING 3D VIRTUAL FOSSILS TO ENHANCE WEB-BASED LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN PALEONTOLOGY

An ongoing instructional challenge and goal in the development of Web-based science courses is to provide students learning opportunities with interactive virtual reality objects approximating the informational richness of investigating a specimen in a lab. This is crucial for online paleontology instruction where the study of fundamental concepts such as identification, classification, evolutionary relationships, functional morphology, and paleoecology relies on observing and assessing 3D characteristics (size, shape, features) and 3D spatial associations of fossils to one another.

To address the pedagogical challenge of simulating specimen-based inquiry in the online course Virtual Paleontology, an interactive 3D fossil cabinet was developed and includes representative invertebrate and vertebrate fossil groups. In addition to individual specimens, small fossil assemblages were scanned for use in paleoecological and taphonomic exercises. The images of fossils were collected using a 3D contact sensor scanner with 0.05mm resolution. Animation and multimedia programs were used for post-production enhancements including polygon reduction, building rulers, creating a fossil cabinet interface and generating short downloadable movies with 3D perspectives of fossils.

The virtual 3D fossils and paleontology lab interface incorporated in Virtual Paleontology permits students to simulate hand specimen observations and manipulations including rotation, panning and magnification. Both Web server and CD-ROM storage formats are currently used for the virtual fossil cabinet due to the large file size of 3D fossils and current bandwidth considerations. The future goal of this project is to expand the variety of 3D fossils in the fossil cabinet in order to provide paleontologists and distance learning educators an extensive virtual fossil collection for course enhancement.