ENHANCING SPATIAL REASONING UTILIZING A HYBRIDIZED FIELD COURSE MODEL

Spatial reasoning is a fundamental skill in the geosciences needing to understand and interpret complex earth system processes. Since observing geologic processes is dependent on scale, understanding these processes may require a remote-sensing approach to identify macrostructures, while others may require field methodologies to identify microstructures. During the GeoScientists Promoting Accessible Collaborative Experiences (GeoSPACE) Program in 2022 and 2023 (NSF Award 2023124), we simulated a planetary volcanology field research mission in a multimodal hybrid environment for students with and without disabilities to investigate sites in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in northern Arizona. Throughout this experience, our virtual students acted as mission control by investigating field sites using a multitude of remotely sensed datasets, synthesizing the data into field site briefings, and providing questions for our in-person students to investigate. Our in-person students acted as astronauts and observed the field sites to provide information to mission control through various synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies. This hybridized approach to a geologic field course required students to identify the spatial advantages and pitfalls of how they investigated field sites while simultaneously developing the required communication skills to share their findings between both groups of students. Through this experience, students learned how to examine field sites from a top-down (remote sensing) and bottom-up (field) perspective to enhance their understanding of the volcanic field by utilizing geospatial technologies and in-situ observations at varying scales. Despite successes, students expressed challenges with this approach, such as technological barriers to utilizing spatial data visualization software, the need for individualized guidance, and the steep learning curve needed to analyze the vast amount of spatial data and select combinations of datasets that would lead to useful interpretations. Encouragingly, this approach inspired students to take on their own research projects after the completion of the field course to investigate features on and beyond our planet (for examples, use the search term GeoSPACE in the programs of GSA 2022 and 2023).