"YOSEMITE: A STORY OF FIRE AND ICE" ROADSIDE GEOLOGY AND VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP

Over the last decade, interactive experiences, virtual and augmented reality field trips, have been increasing in abundance and quality within STEM fields. Although significant academic gains have not been found, discipline-based education researchers have continued to show that such pedagogical tools increase student engagement, especially in the absence of availability or access to “real” field trips. This project is the result of mentoring two undergraduate geology students through their theses over the last two and a half years, and valuable collaboration with magmatic petrologists working in Yosemite National Park.

“Yosemite: A Story of Fire and Ice” is an app produced by Travel Storys GPS that showcases the rich magmatic history and iconic geomorphology of the park. Twenty field trip stops use famous and lesser known outcrops to describe the formation of the rocks from their plutonic and volcanic origins as well as how the modern landscape was shaped by glaciers. Locations within the park are also used to tell stories of the effects of anthropogenic climate change and contrast the rapidity of these impacts with geologic-time-scale climate change. The geology content presented in the app is targeted towards introductory level geology learners and the general public.

The app is designed to be used on the road in the way a typical visitor will drive through the park, tracing an “S” shape entering Yosemite from the south on Wawona Road and looping through the valley, then traveling Tioga Pass east toward Mono Lake. As the park visitor drives the route, the app uses GPS to trigger narration as an audio tour of the geology of the park at all 20 locations. At each field trip location, the user is encouraged to stop and explore the area, and even go on short hikes, looking at it through a geologist’s lens. Each location has several images provided that guide the novice to visualize geologic structures and how to interpret them. The app can also be used on smartphones and tablets outside of the park without GPS triggers as a standalone virtual field trip. Once the app is publicly available, we will move forward with the next step of designing an instrument for assessing its impact on visitor experience within the park.