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In this paper we suggest that introductory level geoscience students can learn more about the Earth and the processes that change it through well designed interactive videos and 3-D images than they typically can learn from a field trip or live lecturer, textbook, and hand samples. This is particularly important at this time because many schools and universities are moving away from actual field experiences and there is a common viewpoint that geology is not a "real" science.

This paper presents an analysis of public responses to U.S. National Weather Service heat-related Facebook posts for the Phoenix (Arizona) County Warning Area to identify community norms that may present challenges to the effectiveness of heat risk communication. Findings suggest that local audiences tend to view heat as “normal” and the ability to withstand heat as a marker of community identity. Recommendations are provided for harnessing those norms to promote positive behavioral change.

Geological (Engineering) Field Methods is a core course at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada where students learn how to investigate the Earth. Typically, this course involves weekly field trips to visit a variety of rock outcrops to learn navigation, observation, and measurement. Remote delivery of this course in fall 2020 due to COVID-19 required a transformation using new virtual, manual, and blended tools. Although largely successful, a return to in-person teaching is recommended.

In this editorial we expand upon the brief advice in the first editorial of Geoscience Communication (Illingworth et al., 2018), illustrating what constitutes robust and publishable work for this journal, elucidating its key elements. Our aim is to help geoscience communicators plan a route to publication, and to illustrate how good engagement work that is already being done might be developed into publishable research.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic shut down, we designed a virtual geology field camp based in the video game, Minecraft. Students learned how to map geological features on the surface and in the subsurface using this fun and engaging platform. Students perceptions of the course were positive and they showed improvement on basic geologic skills between a pre- and post-assessment survey. students discussing career pathways, skills, and fostering interpersonal relationships.

We created a virtual field trip (VFT) to Grand Ledge, a regionally important suite of outcrops in Michigan, USA. There is a wide range of sedimentary and stratigraphic features encompassed in this locality, making it ideal for a comprehensive virtual field experience. The VFT undertakes all stages of a field project – students investigate outcrops and samples at multiple scales, and students report successfully learning how to interpret complex sedimentary environments "like a real geologist."

We describe a virtual education module that encompasses many of the basic requirements of an advanced field exercise, including designing data collection strategies, synthesizing field and laboratory data, and communicating the results. Modules like the one shared here can successfully address, or even improve on, some of the key learning objectives that are common to field-based capstone experiences, while also fostering a more accessible and inclusive learning environment for all students.

Field trips, despite their significance in students’ education, cannot be performed under the present COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated virtual field trips, as an alternative of in situ field work and as a means of preparation for “live” field trips, considering students’ views. They are useful for geoscience students, and a good alternative during restriction periods; although they can't substitute real field trips, they can be a valuable additional tool when preparing for a live field trip.

At UNIS, located at 78° N in Longyearbyen in Arctic Norway, we use digital outcrop models (DOMs) actively in a new course (‘AG222: Integrated Geological Methods: from outcrop to geomodel’) to solve authentic geoscientific challenges. DOMs are shared through the open access Svalbox geoscientific portal, along with 360° imagery, subsurface data and published geoscientific data from Svalbard. Here we share experiences from the AG222 course and Svalbox, both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many countries can get hit by different hazards, such as earthquakes and floods. Generally, measures and policies are aimed at decreasing the potential damages of one particular hazard type despite their potential of having unwanted effects on other hazard types. We designed a serious game that helps professionals to improve their understanding of these potential negative effects of measures and policies that reduce the impacts of disasters across many different hazard types.