DEVELOPMENT OF A VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP FOR MOUNT DESERT ISLAND AND ACADIA NATIONAL PARK IN MAINE

Field trips are an important component to undergraduate geology programs. Field work provides students with hands-on and real world learning experiences. From short trips to regional localities, or extended summer excursions, these experiences provide new challenges to and growth opportunities to students. Restrictions to geology field trips may include, but are not limited to, budgetary constraints, lack of logistical support, and/or safety concerns. Instead, virtual geology field trips establish an alternative that provides students with a unique experience. In addition, virtual field trips accessible on University web pages may also serve as an asset to the recruitment of geology and/or earth science majors and to educate the general public. Furthermore, the web-based learning environment has many advantages, such as the ability to instantly change and/or update information, and the ability to expand resources through visuals, such as interactive maps and graphs.

In this study, a virtual field trip was developed for Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park in Maine. The web-based learning environment provides a unique opportunity for students to observe multiple scales, such as geologic maps, field relationships through photographs, hand sample images, and photomicrographs of selected rock specimens. This virtual field trip highlights ten localities with twelve different rock specimens with accompanying photomicrographs of thin-sections. The web pages are designed for a student, or a visitor, to explore on their own using interactive tools. This approach follows “just-in-time” methods, in which the learning is self-paced.

With increasing budgetary limitations and concerns with safety, virtual field trips provide a useful alternative that delivers students a hands-on experience. In addition, a virtual field trip may be an important resource to recruitment of geology and/or earth science majors, increasing visibility of the geosciences to the general public, and a valuable learning resource to the introductory geology student.