PILOT STUDY ON THE USE OF AUGMENTED REALITY IN AN UNDERGRADUATE FIELD GEOLOGY COURSE

The Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration has developed an application that allows students to remotely explore geologic outcrops at a 1:1 scale using Microsoft HoloLens AR head-mounted displays. We conducted a pilot study to test how well field relationships and rock unit features can be represented by immersive augmented reality (AR) models of rock outcrops. Several pedagogical studies have documented increased student engagement when using virtual or augmented reality teaching tools; however, these studies often do not focus on whether student academic performance is enhanced by the 3D digital models. This study contributes to the existing literature by assessing how well AR models help students learn, rather than focusing on student engagement and perceived learning gains. To test whether student comprehension is affected by the type of outcrop representation, we asked students to sketch rock outcrops (1) from a 2D photo, (2) from a 3D augmented reality representation, and (3) from the field. Students readily identify macroscale outcrop features in all three model types. However, the fine scale details that allow a student to unravel the geologic processes involved in the formation of an outcrop may be best represented in the field. Our findings suggest it is important to represent fine scale features in any augmented or virtual reality model meant to serve as a remote field trip.