MICHIGAN VIRTUAL GEOTRIPS: EXPERIENCES WITH AN INTEGRATIVE VIRTUAL FIELD ACTIVITY IN A LARGE INTRODUCTORY COURSE

The Virtual Geotrips web site provides students with a field-geologist's perspective on select Michigan bedrock localities using maps, photographs, descriptive text, and short descriptive and/or instructive video clips. The web site was conceived to provide students with some of the important elements of geologic field trips in situations where opportunities are limited due to logistics of class size and/or distance. The Virtual Geotrips web resource is well suited for developing assignments that require integration of spatial and/or temporal information, in which students synthesize observational information from the web site and related lab samples to derive a geologic interpretation (e.g. – stratigraphic column, cross section, etc.). The necessary synthesis skills are developed through several related course, lab, or homework activities.

The web-resource is organized in the form of GeoTours of different localities that lead students through the geology observed at different field stations. Our most complete GeoTour is near the town of Grand Ledge, MI where several Pennsylvanian-age sedimentary rock outcrops are exposed along or near the Grand River. An assignment developed for the Grand Ledge GeoTour requires students to visit each of the 6 Grand Ledge stations using the descriptive information to create a stratigraphic sequence that includes rock descriptions for each station. Hand samples provided in the lab are linked to some of the stations. Students then correlate between stations, define units, and create a stratigraphic column for the region. Short video clips are particularly useful for focusing student attention to observational details and for explaining field procedures. Preparatory activities include in-class discussions of stratigraphic sequences and geologic time, simple correlation exercises, and a field trip to the local gypsum mine where we derive a stratigraphic column together as a group.

An exercise in preparation, based on sedimentary and metamorphic rocks in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, will require students to create a geologic cross section and develop a better conceptual understanding of dipping layer geometries.