This project will investigate the use of virtual reality technologies to create virtual field experiences for use in introductory geosciences classes. Although field experiences are an important aspect of geoscience education, there are few opportunities to provide physical world experiences to many undergraduate students due to access, logistical, and financial constraints. Thus, geoscience instructors must develop novel teaching and learning opportunities that closely approximate the information, elements, and environment students would find on a physical, in-person field study. The types of virtual experiences developed through this project, while different from their physical corollaries, will give learners the chance to engage with learning content and activities through multi-modal interactions in the virtual environment. The use of virtualization tools will create opportunities that give geoscience educators access to interactive, contextualized teaching materials, and learners access to a space for exploration and discovery. The development of virtual reality field experiences will also create a pathway for a diverse audience of students to encounter the earth sciences, particularly those from underrepresented groups, resource-limited institutions, and majors traditionally not directly involved in the earth sciences. Enhancing access to educational opportunities for these groups will aid in developing the engaged, diverse and earth-science literate population that is needed to address societal needs in a complex and changing world.
The project will develop a virtual reality field-trip of the Grand Canyon that will be accessible to a wide audience in diverse educational settings. Through the experience, students will develop core geoscience concepts as they find and evaluate evidence that will help them piece together the geologic history of the region. In the virtual experience, students will apply their knowledge of rock and mineral properties, build their understanding of spatial and temporal relationships between Earth processes, learn how these relationships are recorded in the rock, and ultimately synthesize their observations into a coherent geologic story that they will encapsulate in lay terms as a virtual brochure for the Canyon. The project will also develop a virtual reality toolbox for earth science educators that will facilitate the future development of additional virtual field activities. The project will utilize new innovations in the field of virtual reality, e.g., Oculus Rift technology, to provide geoscience educators the means to give every student a first-person virtual field experience. The virtual field experiences will be designed to emphasize key aspects of geoscience learning (i.e., temporal thinking, spatial thinking, earth systems, and field learning) and integrate the 'Big Ideas' in geoscience proposed by the Earth Science Literacy Initiative. The specific learning activities that will be developed in the project are strongly grounded in the existing geoscience education, STEM education, and game-based learning literature and will utilize built-in learning analytics for improved assessment of student learning. By addressing both the affective and cognitive routes to learning, this approach holds promise to increase student engagement and concept retention in the classroom.
