Virtual geoscience education resources (SE/GC inter-journal SI)(SE/GC inter-journal SI)
Virtual geoscience education resources (SE/GC inter-journal SI)(SE/GC inter-journal SI)
Editor(s): Virginia Toy (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany), Marlene Villeneuve (University of Leoben, Austria), Simon J. Buckley (Norwegian Research Centre, Norway), Steven Whitmeyer (James Madison University, United States of America), and Sam Illingworth (Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom) Special issue jointly organized between Solid Earth and Geoscience Communication
This joint special issue between Solid Earth and Geoscience Communication aims to present the highlights of recent efforts of a global community of educators and researchers to develop virtual field activities to enhance student learning, research, and broader outreach. These resilient, non-traditional solutions to field-focused investigations ensure that students achieve intended learning outcomes and curricular requirements even when physical contact and travel are restricted. The special issue will ensure that the virtual field experiences initially developed as short-term solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic will become valuable longer-term resources that will increase the accessibility of field experiences for students and society.

We invite contributions that describe, discuss, and evaluate aspects of virtual field experiences, trips, and exercises, including but not limited to
  • intended learning outcomes,
  • methods employed in exercise design and construction,
  • outreach and communication with wider society,
  • how the field excursion enhances relevant previous research on the topic or location.
We have made special provisions to publish supplementary datasets that could include
  • photographs, videos, and 3D models,
  • geographical annotation files, such as Google Earth presentations and/or KML/KMZ files or ESRI shapefiles,
  • educational materials, such as exercise descriptions, rubrics, background literature, etc.,
  • links to datasets hosted in external repositories, preferably via a DOI, but if necessary as hyperlinks to material hosted on websites, such as the NAGT Teaching with Online Field Experiences site and V3Geo 3D models.
If you have other ideas, please do not hesitate to contact the special issue editors prior to submission to discuss whether they can be included.

Download citations of all papers

20 Dec 2022
Transformation of geological sciences and geological engineering field methods course to remote delivery using manual, virtual, and blended tools in fall 2020
Jennifer Jane Day
Geosci. Commun., 5, 381–395, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-381-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-381-2022, 2022
Short summary
06 Oct 2022
Learning outcomes, learning support, and cohort cohesion on a virtual field trip: an analysis of student and staff perceptions
Clare E. Bond, Jessica H. Pugsley, Lauren Kedar, Sarah R. Ledingham, Marianna Z. Skupinska, Tomasz K. Gluzinski, and Megan L. Boath
Geosci. Commun., 5, 307–323, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-307-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-307-2022, 2022
Short summary
02 Sep 2022
Virtual field experiences in a web-based video game environment: open-ended examples of existing and fictional field sites
Mattathias D. Needle, Juliet G. Crider, Jacky Mooc, and John F. Akers
Geosci. Commun., 5, 251–260, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-251-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-251-2022, 2022
Short summary
20 Jul 2022
Virtual field trips utilizing virtual outcrop: construction, delivery and implications for the future
Jessica H. Pugsley, John A. Howell, Adrian Hartley, Simon J. Buckley, Rachel Brackenridge, Nicholas Schofield, Gail Maxwell, Magda Chmielewska, Kari Ringdal, Nicole Naumann, and Joris Vanbiervliet
Geosci. Commun., 5, 227–249, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-227-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-227-2022, 2022
Short summary
07 Apr 2022
A remote field course implementing high-resolution topography acquisition with geomorphic applications
Sharon Bywater-Reyes and Beth Pratt-Sitaula
Geosci. Commun., 5, 101–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-101-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-101-2022, 2022
Short summary
09 Mar 2022
V3Geo: a cloud-based repository for virtual 3D models in geoscience
Simon J. Buckley, John A. Howell, Nicole Naumann, Conor Lewis, Magda Chmielewska, Kari Ringdal, Joris Vanbiervliet, Bowei Tong, Oliver S. Mulelid-Tynes, Dylan Foster, Gail Maxwell, and Jessica Pugsley
Geosci. Commun., 5, 67–82, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-67-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-67-2022, 2022
Short summary
01 Mar 2022
Virtual strike and dip – advancing inclusive and accessible field geology
Natalie Bursztyn, Pejman Sajjadi, Hannah Riegel, Jiawei Huang, Jan Oliver Wallgrün, Jiayan Zhao, Bart Masters, and Alexander Klippel
Geosci. Commun., 5, 29–53, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-29-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-29-2022, 2022
Short summary
28 Jan 2022
From a virtual field trip to geologically reasoned decisions in Yosemite Valley
Nicolas C. Barth, Greg M. Stock, and Kinnari Atit
Geosci. Commun., 5, 17–28, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-17-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-17-2022, 2022
Short summary
04 Jan 2022
Virtual field trip to the Esla Nappe (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain): delivering traditional geological mapping skills remotely using real data
Manuel I. de Paz-Álvarez, Thomas G. Blenkinsop, David M. Buchs, George E. Gibbons, and Lesley Cherns
Solid Earth, 13, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
04 Jan 2022
Introduction to teaching science with three-dimensional images of dinosaur footprints from Cristo Rey, New Mexico
Valeria V. Martinez and Laura F. Serpa
Geosci. Commun., 5, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-1-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
23 Dec 2021
The Mid Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse: a comparison of virtual and on-location field-based capstone experiences
Steven Whitmeyer, Lynn Fichter, Anita Marshall, and Hannah Liddle
Solid Earth, 12, 2803–2820, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2803-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2803-2021, 2021
Short summary
20 Dec 2021
| Highlight paper
Deep oceanic submarine fieldwork with undergraduate students: an immersive experience with the Minerve software
Marianne Métois, Jean-Emmanuel Martelat, Jérémy Billant, Muriel Andreani, Javier Escartín, and Frédérique Leclerc
Solid Earth, 12, 2789–2802, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2789-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2789-2021, 2021
Short summary
19 Oct 2021
Pandemic Minecrafting: an analysis of the perceptions of and lessons learned from a gamified virtual geology field camp
Erika Rader, Renee Love, Darryl Reano, Tonia A. Dousay, and Natasha Wingerter
Geosci. Commun., 4, 475–492, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-475-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-475-2021, 2021
Short summary
08 Oct 2021
Multi-scale virtual field experience: sedimentology and stratigraphy of Grand Ledge, Michigan, USA
Madeline S. Marshall and Melinda C. Higley
Geosci. Commun., 4, 461–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-461-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-461-2021, 2021
Short summary
28 Sep 2021
Teaching with digital geology in the high Arctic: opportunities and challenges
Kim Senger, Peter Betlem, Sten-Andreas Grundvåg, Rafael Kenji Horota, Simon John Buckley, Aleksandra Smyrak-Sikora, Malte Michel Jochmann, Thomas Birchall, Julian Janocha, Kei Ogata, Lilith Kuckero, Rakul Maria Johannessen, Isabelle Lecomte, Sara Mollie Cohen, and Snorre Olaussen
Geosci. Commun., 4, 399–420, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-399-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-399-2021, 2021
Short summary
28 Sep 2021
Virtual mapping and analytical data integration: a teaching module using Precambrian crystalline basement in Colorado's Front Range (USA)
Kevin H. Mahan, Michael G. Frothingham, and Ellen Alexander
Geosci. Commun., 4, 421–435, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-421-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-421-2021, 2021
Short summary
13 Aug 2021
Virtual field trips as a tool for indirect geomorphological experience: a case study from the southeastern part of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece
Niki Evelpidou, Anna Karkani, Giannis Saitis, and Evangelos Spyrou
Geosci. Commun., 4, 351–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-351-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-351-2021, 2021
Short summary
24 Jun 2021
Development and implementation of virtual field teaching resources: two karst geomorphology modules and three virtual capstone pathways
Rachel Bosch
Geosci. Commun., 4, 329–349, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-329-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-329-2021, 2021
Short summary
19 Apr 2021
A role for virtual outcrop models in blended learning – improved 3D thinking and positive perceptions of learning
Clare E. Bond and Adam J. Cawood
Geosci. Commun., 4, 233–244, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-233-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-4-233-2021, 2021
Short summary
CC BY 4.0