Collaborative Research: Virtual 4-D Field Education in Google Earth

该项目利用谷歌地球应用程序接口的功能，为所有年龄段的正式和非正式地球科学学生创造新的学习体验。一个地球科学教师网络正在创建GigaPan露头和虚拟标本，并将它们与谷歌地球地形上的源位置联系起来。通过项目服务器和网站可以访问嵌入式露头和标本的虚拟实地考察。任务被分配给学生小组，然后他们可以自由地在虚拟的野外车辆中探索地形，或者单独步行。因此，学生作为自由主体的学习者，参与社交网络，以探索地形。他们通过发短信来完成国家标准和大学教学大纲中概述的地球科学学习目标，从而相互交流和合作。评估工具通过计算机记录嵌入虚拟实地考察。 当学生偏离课程或在任务上花费太多时间时，系统会向他们提供自动反馈。这些数据存储在该项目的TB级服务器上，用于分析经纬度时间轨迹，并比较新手和专家的任务方法。 通过使用古地理学的地面覆盖图，学生能够体验任何地质时期的谷歌地球地形，他们可以跟随系统的演变和标本在地质年代的变化。这些技术使学生能够超越真实的实地考察的限制，将地球的岩石圈与月球和火星的岩石圈进行比较。

This project is leveraging the capabilities of the Google Earth Application Program Interface to create new learning experiences for formal and informal geoscience students of all ages. A network of geoscience instructors is creating GigaPan outcrops and virtual specimens and linking them to source locations on the Google Earth terrain. Virtual field trips with embedded outcrops and specimens are accessible via the project server and web site. Tasks are assigned to groups of students who are then free to explore the terrain in a virtual field vehicle or individually on foot. Students are thus acting as free-agent learners and participating in social networks in order to explore the terrain. They interact and collaborate with each other through texting on tasks that address geoscience learning goals outlined in national standards and college syllabi. Assessment instruments are embedded in the virtual field trips via computer logging. Automated feedback is provided to students when they wander off course or spend too much time on task. Logs are stored on the project's terabyte server for analysis of latitude-longitude-time tracks and comparison of novice versus expert approaches to tasks. Through the use of ground overlays of paleogeography, students are able to experience the Google Earth terrain during any geological period and they can follow the evolution of systems and changes of specimens in deep geologic time. These technologies allow students to go beyond the limitations of real field trips and compare the lithosphere of the Earth with that of the Moon and Mars.