Collaborative Research: Bringing Problem Solving in the Field into the Classroom: Developing and Assessing Virtual Field Trips for Teaching Sedimentary and Introductory Geology

该项目正在开发、实施和评估新的互动式实地学习材料，以虚拟实地考察的形式，用于本科沉积地质学和地质学入门教学。 正在为高级课程和入门课程开发虚拟实地考察，并以沉积地质学高级课程的实际实地考察为基础。专业摄像师正在协助拍摄，编辑和制作虚拟实地考察。 PI正在南佛罗里达大学和希尔斯伯勒社区学院合作开发和测试这些材料。目前正在实施的基于探究的教学策略的重点是激发学生的兴趣，提高他们运用课堂知识的能力，进行科学观察，并在虚拟的现场设置中解决问题。与传统实地考察相关的一个关键问题是，由于涉及大量的时间，成本和责任，他们的能力有限，无法接触到大量不同的学生群体。 因此，该项目正在整合快速发展的网络和可视化技术，以消除学生参与的一些障碍，由此产生的虚拟实地考察试图捕捉具有类似学习目标，练习和作业的实际实地考察的本质。 强有力的形成性和总结性评价策略评估项目活动和虚拟实地考察的教育效果，并包括定性和定量评价学生学习的虚拟实地经验的功能。 随着虚拟实地考察的测试和完善，正在通过地球科学家使用的广泛使用的门户网站进行传播，区域和国家会议上的教师培训讲习班正在积极培训其他人如何在美国各地的地球科学课程中利用虚拟实地考察。

The project is developing, implementing, and assessing new interactive field-based learning materials, in the form of virtual field trips, for teaching undergraduate sedimentary geology and introductory geology. The virtual field trips are being developed for advanced courses and for introductory courses and are based on actual field trips for an upper-level sedimentary geology course. Professional videographers are assisting with the filming, editing, and production of the virtual field trips. The PIs are collaboratively developing and testing the materials at the University of South Florida and at Hillsborough Community College. The inquiry-based teaching strategy that is being implemented is focusing on stimulating the interest of students and enhancing their ability to apply classroom knowledge, make scientific observations, and solve problems in a virtual field setting.A key issue associated with traditional field trips has been their limited ability to reach a large and diverse student population due to the substantial time, cost, and liability involved. Consequently, this project is integrating rapidly evolving web and visualization technologies to eliminate some of the obstacles to student participation, and the resultant virtual field trips are attempting to capture the essence of actual field trips with similar learning goals, exercises, and assignments. Strong formative and summative evaluation strategies are assessing both the project activities and the educational effectiveness of the virtual field trips, and include both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of student learning as a function of the virtual field experiences. As they are tested and refined, the virtual field trips are being disseminated through broadly used web portals utilized by geoscientists, and faculty training workshops at regional and national meetings are actively training others how to utilize the virtual field trips in geoscience courses across the United States.