FROM FIELD TO PHONE: A KARST CAMP CHRONICLE

During the summer of 2020, many geology field camps were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Karst Geomorphology field course I was scheduled to co-teach through Western Kentucky University. When the National Association of Geoscience Teachers in collaboration with the International Association for Geoscience Diversity began the project of supporting working groups to create online field experience teaching material, I saw an opportunity. From the field camp syllabus, I created two products that are now freely available on the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) Online Field Experiences repository: “Karst Hydrogeology: A virtual field introduction using Google Earth and GIS” and “Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology: A virtual field experience using Google Earth, GIS, and TAK [Topographic Analysis Kit],” including student handouts, instructor workflow reference sheets, grading rubrics, and NAGT-established learning objectives. The introductory activity is the more basic of the two, is expected to take about one day to teach, and walks students through all the steps, as well as providing global examples of karst landscapes to virtually explore. The other activity, Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology, assumes student familiarity with Google Earth, GIS, and karst drainage systems, and may take up to two days to complete. To make these learning opportunities financially accessible, all software required for the activities is open-source and alternative workflows for the introductory module are provided so that the entire exercise can be completed using a smartphone. In addition to providing online capstone activities in the time of a pandemic, these activities provide alternatives to traditional field camps and inclusive learning experiences for all geoscience students. In my home department, I had been contacted by students needing to find capstone experiences when their field camps were cancelled. Responding to this need and providing a virtual alternative for years to come, I assembled the SERC activities into three learning tracks, each one providing learning hours equivalent to a traditional field camp, that will be offered at the University of Cincinnati this Fall semester.