VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCE OF MATTHIESSEN STATE PARK FOR THE CLASSROOM

In Geology, field experiences are an important asset to understand geologic concepts, however field trips can be difficult to assemble because of financial, geographic, or disability limitations. To solve this problem, our team developed an interactive virtual reality field trip that allows students to explore a distant geologic field area and develop their own hypotheses as if they were in the field. With DSLR cameras and 360 degree photography software, we created 4 photospheres of Matthiessen State Park in Oglesby Illinois, that will analyze the Paleozoic formations and structural monocline in the park. Photospheres are 360 degree images that users are able to pan and zoom around the scenic area, as if they were there, on their desktops, virtual reality headsets, or cell phones. In addition to the photospheres, we generated a set of inquiry-based lesson plans for middle and high school educators so students can have the opportunity to make observations about rocks in the “field”. By observing and interpreting the depositional environments of the Shakopee Dolomite and St. Peter Sandstone students will learn how Illinois was once covered by a shallow sea, and by measuring the La Salle monocline students will learn how tectonic activity once uplifted rocks in Illinois. This work will be associated with another virtual field trip relating the modern landscape to the glacial processes in Starved Rock State Park.

We are currently developing a set of video lessons and guiding questions that will embedded in the virtual tour to be shared with middle school, high school, and university educators. The tour will take them to multiple panoramic sites at important geological stops in the state park. Each location will have their own hyperlinks to access teaching materials and short videos. This allows instruction to be delivered to students that are unable to access these locations because of physical limitations or geographic reasons.