FIRST PUBLISHED VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP THROUGH IBOOKS FOR GRADES 9 – 14 GEOLOGY

Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) is a two-year college located in Martinsville, Virginia. The per capita income is around $20,000 and 25% of the households make under $15,000. School related expenses and family responsibilities make it difficult for PHCC geology students to take part in field trips that extend beyond the scheduled class and laboratory hours. Virtual field trips (VFT) are a viable option to foster observation and geologic processing skills in situations when in-person field trips are impossible. A professional development grant (SU2012-486P-PF) was obtained from the Virginia Community College System to help fund the development of virtual field trips. The first field trip (Oakes Quarry City Park in Fairborn, OH) has been published in the iBookstore and is currently available as a free download for anyone with an iPad. The VFT includes an explanation of the project and the history of the park, photographs, video segments, review questions, and a “post-field trip” student assignment. For larger classes a test pool (BlackBoard format) will be available to facilitate assessment. This trip will be piloted in the Spring of 2013 in Historical Geology. A VFT for the Badlands is underway, with one for the Black Hills to follow.