A Guide to Creating "Virtual Fieldwork Experiences" | Earth System Science Informal Education Network

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A Guide to Creating "Virtual Fieldwork Experiences"*

Robert M. Ross

Paleontological Research Institution

October 2, 2007

Fieldtrips have long been an essential part of a hands-on Earth science course, and many educators have lamented increasing restrictions on getting students into the field. These trips have ranged from active problem-solving expeditions to less active show-and-tell. Technology in the 1990's began making creation of "virtual" fieldtrips relatively straightforward for anyone with basic computer skills and some time. Although hundreds of virtual field trips are now available over the web, many of these are not much different than a slide show of someone's trip (though these too have their place in some educational contexts). The term "virtual fieldwork" is intended to have a slightly different connotation: the emphasis is on doing rather than seeing (Duggan-Haas and Ross, 2007). Some good examples by Duggan-Haas can be found at: http://people.colgate.edu/ddugganhaas/ReaL/VirtualFieldExperiences.html. Click on “A Clickable Map with links to some of our VFE’s.”

People who do fieldwork are usually exploring a new place, collecting data for research, or both. "Virtual fieldwork experiences" (or VFE’s) provide opportunities for your students to experience problem-solving in nature when you can't actually get them there. It provides an opportunity to connect your lessons with features your students might encounter in their own lives, and to apply what they've been learning to the way the world really looks outside the classroom walls. Ideally, virtual fieldwork has some of the same active experiences as those of a scientist investigating a place for the first time. This suggests opportunities to explore and discover, to ask questions, and to look for observations relevant to answering a question about a locality. While "show and tell" at a locality can be useful in some contexts, "virtual fieldwork" is less about showing features and more about student activity.

Consider what we might hope students can do at a real field site several years after they have left our classrooms. Try to imagine a scenario by which they employ knowledge and understanding in a way that's useful to themselves and others. The simplest situation perhaps is that they can see an Earth science phenomenon, in their own backyard, in their neighborhood, in a park, at a lake, or at a construction site and know what meaningful questions they might ask and what observations they can make to answer them. The most basic of questions is "Why does this place look the way it does?" This question incorporates both the questions "What is the history of Earth processes that happened here?" and "What is going on here now: today and over the course of the year?" I give interpretive walks at local parks and elsewhere around Central New York State. Many of the places look quite different one from the next, but the series of questions asked during the walks are almost the same, and that is the point: Understanding of a set of concepts, and knowing what questions to ask in each place, enables one to make sense of a wide variety of places across a region.

But how does one bring the field experience to the classroom or exhibit hall on a regular basis, to help students understand such real-world applications? This is, of course, a challenge, because transporting the complexity of even a small site, and the myriad observations that might be made there, from the field to the classroom seems overwhelming. But with the availability of digital cameras, software such as PowerPoint, and greater availability of computers and projectors in classrooms, it has never been easier to present large numbers of photos, together with on-line maps, data, and any specimens brought back from the field. Virtual fieldwork experiences take some effort to do well and never can replace the real thing. But the opportunity for creating something useful that reflects real environments has never been greater,

The beauty of creating a virtual fieldtrip thoroughly for one particular locality is that this locality can be revisited by students numerous times over the course of the year. The Earth is a system, after all, and many places one may be able to study a wide range of phenomena from sedimentary rocks to meteorology to weathering to stream flow. Visiting a site numerous times helps students to discover how different Earth phenomena interact with each other, "multi-purposes" the effort one puts into creating a virtual fieldwork experience, and helps one to concentrate on getting to know just one site very well. In principle, colleagues creating virtual fieldwork experiences can share materials, or even be guest experts in each other's classrooms and venues.

Research has been done into what characteristics of virtual experiences makes them most highly effective as educational tools, but relatively little of that research has been done on Earth science virtual trips, or how they tie into teaching inquiry- and systems-thinking in Earth science. There is substantial room not only to create experiences that will complement what you are already doing in your classroom, but to create innovative approaches that might benefit your colleagues locally, and beyond.

The following example deals with a geological site, but the technique and many of the questions used can be extrapolated to most sites or place-based exhibits for which you may want to create a VFE.

Application of a virtual fieldwork experience to a specific locality

It is best to give some forethought to how the site or exhibit will illustrate various learning objectives you are trying to achieve. For example, a fossil-rich sedimentary section would obviously apply to units on sedimentary rocks, fossils, and geologic history, but several other units could also be approached. Let's assume that you are introducing sedimentary rocks. You may be concerned with introducing understanding of what sedimentary rocks are, how they form, and how to know them when you see them. Keeping in mind your long-term goals, you will want students to know how to ask meaningful questions about them some years down the road, even after their memories of vocabulary and facts have begun to wane.

Duggan-Haas (2005) has created an excellent vignette (in the style of the National Science Education Standards [NAS 1996]) of how a virtual field trip experience might intersect with curriculum and teacher approach. His example is a small Devonian quarry. Although there are many ways to lead an open-ended inquiry or guided inquiry investigation of a site, one place to start might be to list questions that lead students to answers about why the site looks the way it does:

· What kind(s) of rock(s) are found in the area? How do you know? What environment did these rocks probably form in?

· Describe the arrangement and variety of rocks shown in the photographs.

· Tell a story of how these rocks may have formed referring back to the photographs and what you have determined about the rock sample(s).

· What has happened to this area to make it look the way it does today? That is, what events have happened to the area since the rocks formed? Why do you think so (what is the evidence for your claim)?

· If you could go to the site, what else would you want to do to answer the above questions?

Basics in the field for creating your virtual field trip

You may have lots of field experience already, in which case you won't need reminders on what to bring and what to do at the outcrop. (If you want a fairly thorough guide, Compton [1985] is the classic.) In creating a virtual fieldtrip, however, you will need to be very systematic about the observations you make, the specimens you collect, and how all of your data is recorded, as you are doing it in proxy for your students. You should, in fact, include photographs and specimens not only of the best examples, but of a broad enough set to give a general feel for what a visitor might find at the site.

Getting started

Though it may seem too intuitively obvious to note, the first step is to wander the site and get to know it yourself. Resist the urge to start collecting specimens from an interesting area, to the exclusion of other areas that may have fewer collectable specimens but other kinds of geological information. Start out by looking across the visible outcrop for signs of structures and for broad spatial changes in rock types—both laterally and vertically. Now see if you can spot a way to move from lower in the rock section to higher and "get your nose to the rocks." Observe how rock types, fossils, sedimentary structures, and tectonic features change vertically, which of course reflects the history of the rocks you are looking at.

Documentation in the field

Photographs: It will be helpful to keep careful track of the location and orientation of the pictures you take. This will help you remember how the pictures go together, and likewise help your students visualize the site. You might want to hold off on taking pictures until you've explored the site and have a plan for how to communicate the site to your students visually. Use or make a map to indicate the place and direction at which your pictures are taken. In most places, and at the small scale you may be working, you will have to draw your own map, but you may be able to get topographic or aerial maps for other locations.

Your pictures should have a scale that makes obvious the size of the geologic features in the photos. Common scales are people (especially yourself, since you are, of course, interesting!), a hand pointing, or a standard rock hammer. For close-up photos traditional objects are quarters, a Swiss Army knives, or rulers with a series of centimeter-sized blocks.

Notes, drawings, and Polaroid photos: Now matter how many digital pictures you take, you are likely going to need to make some drawings, at the very least to record information about your pictures and the specimens. It will be helpful to use either a "rite-in-the-rain" notebook or to bring a large transparent plastic bag big enough to hold your notebook in case it rains. It can be helpful to use a Polaroid camera so that you can write notes directly onto photos. Polaroid photos are somewhat expensive and the quality isn't high, so these pictures do not replace others that you are taking for your virtual fieldtrip.

Measuring the section: In research it is generally important to measure precisely where observations are made in a vertical section; thus it is necessary to measure any particular section from the bottom as a means of documentation. For teaching purposes it is possible to use basic tools such as meter sticks and long tape measures to make sure that your samples are collected at appropriate intervals and that your outcrop descriptions are accurate.

Collecting specimens and bulk samples: You will undoubtedly want to collect specimens to complement your photos. Some of these will be useful simply as examples of the kinds of rocks, fossils, etc. that can be found in your region, so you can collect loose rock that has weathered off the outcrop. You can also collect directly from the outcrop, either for individual samples or for "bulk samples," which are samples of a certain volume of rock or sediment. If you are simply trying to create a large collection of different kinds of fossils and rock you might want to collect primarily from the loose rock, but you will not be able to tie these into your virtual fieldwork in a precise way.

Keeping locality data with your specimens is important to having a scientifically useful collection (that is a model to your students) and being able to use your specimens with your virtual fieldtrip. Even if you collect loose specimens from the piles of broken shale at the base of the cliffs, while you will not know precisely from which layers the fossils originated, you will probably know that they came from the specific cliff (unless the rocks could have washed into the area in some other way). Since specimens so easily become separated from the label that identifies their locality, it is useful to number your specimens in some way. Putting numbers on specimens with a permanent marker right in the field (or on a bag and putting the specimen directly into the bag), and identifying the position of the samples in the field on a diagram, is an excellent way to make sure locality documentation takes place.

Materials to bring into the field

To make a virtual fieldtrip you will need essentially the same equipment you might bring into the field anyway, except that you might bring more material for documentation. Here is a brief checklist:

· A digital camera of any kind. Film cameras will do if you are willing to pay for or make digital photos from the negatives, but with a digital camera you'll feel free to take any number of photos and you can use them on your computer immediately after being in the field.

· Digital videocameras are terrific if you have one and know well how to edit the results on your computer.

· A note book and pencils. "Rite-in-the-rain" brand notebooks (www.riteintherain.com) are a good investment for long-term use, as they can get wet and still be used.

· Topographic map of the area, including a copy that you can write on.

For collecting specimens:

· A rock hammer is helpful (chisel-head is better for sedimentary rocks, pointed for igneous and metamorphic rocks). While you can collect loose material that is useful at many outcrops, you need a rock hammer to collect fresh samples directly from the outcrop, for example if you are collecting from a specific point. Chisels made for rock are also useful, and butter knives are handy for splitting softer sedimentary rocks such as shale.

· Goggles or other eyewear protection.

For collecting and bringing specimens home you'll need:

· Zip-lock bags and small specimen boxes; tissues and paper towels are good for fragile specimens.

· Soda flats (shallow cardboard boxes) or inexpensive small plastic totes.

· Sharpie (permanent) markers to mark bags and rocks with specimen numbers

A few other items that are useful in the field:

· Hand lens (about 10X).

· Pocket knife.

· Brunton compass if you have access to one (for measuring strikes and dip angles).

· Tape measure and/or measuring stick.

REFERENCES

Compton, Robert R. 1985 Geology in the Field John Wiley and Sons Ettensohn, F.R., 1985, Controls on the development of Catskill delta complex basin facies, pp. 85-115, in Woodrow, D.L. and Sevon, W.D. (eds.), The Catskill Delta, Geological Society of America Special Paper, v. 201.

Duggan-Haas, D., 2005, The virtual fieldtrip version of the quarry query. http://people.colgate.edu/ddugganhaas/WhatIsThisPlace/VFTVignette.htm. (accessed September 2007)

Duggan-Haas, D. and Ross, R.M., 2007, Fieldwork, real and virtual, as a driver of inquiry in education: Why does this place look the way it does? (abst.) Geological Society of America Program with Abstracts

NAS (National Academy of Sciences), 1996, National Science Education Standards. National Academies Press: Washington, DC

* This is a modified excerpt from the paper “Creating a virtual fieldwork experience at a fossil-rich quarry” in the New York State Geological Association Fieldguide 2007.