DEVIL'S LAKE FIELDTRIPS REBOOTED: MIXING TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY

A field trip to Devil’s Lake State Park is an important legacy in Wisconsin’s earth science tradition. By 1872, T.C. Chamberlain was leading educational field trips to the park while he was faculty at the Whitewater Normal School (now UW-Whitewater). The combination of Precambrian and Quaternary geology in the park results in a physical geography unique in the upper-Midwest including steep bluffs with talus, moraines, folded rock, and an unconformity, all in close proximity. Today more than 100 colleges and universities lead earth science field trips to Devil’s Lake State Park and more than a million people visit the park each year for recreation. A field trip there has been conducted as a part of the Geoscience curriculum at UW-Platteville since at least the 1930’s. The trips are included in courses ranging from general education to advanced undergraduate courses. Most of the general education students are non-science majors, and this is one of the few science experiences they will have as an undergraduate. Therefore, this field trip is a crucial link for STEM recruitment and successful student exposure to science content and skills. However, every year several students are not able to meet the physical demands of the trip due to a variety of reasons (disabilities, sports injuries, physical fitness, etc.). To address this, we used mobile GIS to develop an interactive set of maps to allow these students to experience Devil's Lake virtually along with their classmates. Building on this work, we are creating an interactive map-based mobile app and website for self-guided geology tours of the park, intended for the broader audience of smart-phone and tablet users that visit the park for recreation. As many as 31% of adults own tablets and 45% own smart-phones and they often use their mobile devices for “just-in-time” information. The app and mobile website will provide that real-time information about the geology of the park and it will expand access to science content and skills to recreational park users.