VIRTUAL FIELDWORK IN INTRODUCTORY GEOSCIENCE (FIELDWORK WITHOUT THE MUDDY BOOTS?) (Invited Presentation)

With the increasing use of virtual reality as a research tool by geoscientists and the widespread availability of desktop virtual reality environments, virtual field environments (VFEs) are being recognized as an important tool in geoscience education. In addition to providing a vehicle for students to “visit” field sites that they may never be able to actually set foot in, VFEs provide students with a means of gathering data and solving problems in a way that is similar to how this would be done in the field. This is important for two reasons. First, work in these environments (virtual fieldwork) gives students experience with a foundational activity in the earth sciences when getting into the field is not possible. Second, doing virtual fieldwork augments actual fieldwork by familiarizing them with sites and helping them plan their work. Finally in those instances where students are engaged in constructing VFEs, the environments provide them with a way of analyzing, presenting, and archiving field data.

Though the activities described in the previous paragraph sound as if they are intended for geoscience majors and researchers, I have used VFEs in a variety of forms with community college non-science majors and found them useful and highly engaging for students. This talk will focus on strategies for using VFEs with such students, as well as student experiences constructing these environments.

This talk will also highlight an emerging project, the construction of a library of VFEs for the Pacific Northwest that is being created with the cooperation of community college geoscience educators in the region. With this project comes an invitation to other educators in the region to become engaged in expanding the library by providing ideas for sites, participating in the fieldwork needed to digitally capture these sites, and develop activities to accompany them.