This page includes links to various resources useful in using and creating Virtual Fieldwork Experiences (VFEs). On this page you will find link and/or descriptions of the following:

• Maps
• Software
• Web 2.0 for VFEs
• Fieldwork/Virtual Fieldwork Tutorials and Assessments
• Project Affiliated Websites

Check back for updates.

Last update: August 22, 2008

Maps & Aerial Photographs:

USGS Topographic Maps (but not just topographic maps!)

If your site is in the United States, you can find the relevant topographic map here.  The site allows free downloads of the maps in electronic format and for you to place orders for print versions.  Also on the site are map symbols and more information about topographic maps.  Find the Map Locator here.  It’s worth giving a special mention to the huge array of maps available here, most as free downloads.  Clicking on “Show all maps for this location” will open the list of available maps including historical, world, surficial deposits and far more.

Software:

This listing includes some of the software I have found most helpful in putting together VFEs.  It is important to note that no software is actually required.  A VFE can be created with a simple set of photographs and a map.

Google Earth (free):

Google Earth is a powerful free software package that allows you to embed text and photographs into maps that may be viewed in multiple ways.

ImageJ (free):

InageJ is an image processing software that has the capability to make measurements within photographs or other images if the image includes something of known length.  By including a ruler, for example, in a photograph the user can then determine the width, height or area of other objects in the image quickly and simply.

Adobe Photoshop:

Adobe’s Photoshop software allows the simple creation of panoramas as well other kinds of image manipulation.  You can, for example, add labels and highlight features.  It is available in a variety of packages and through educational discounts, so there are several price points.

Presentation Software:

Microsoft’s PowerPoint and Apple’s Keynote software are commercial products for creating slide shows.  Open source software is readily available as well.  VFEs can easily be created using any of these packages.

Website Authoring Software:

There are many ways to go about authoring websites — commercially available packages, html programming and open sources packages.  VFEs can be created in any of these and, by placing the VFE on the web, it can be easily shared with other teachers and their students.

Web 2.0 for VFEs

The following sites (or classes of sites) facilitate sharing and collaboration in ways that are helpful to the development of VFEs.

Photo Sharing Websites:

There are many different sites that allow users to post their photographs to the web and link to them including:

• • flickr.com
  • photobucket.com
  • Panoramio.com
  • picasa.com
  • shutterfly.com
  • snapfish.com

Both Panaramio and Picasa are integrated with Google Earth so that after uploading your photographs, you view them in Google Earth without needing to embed links yourself.

ZoomImage

The ZoomImage Creator allows you to create Quicktime VR Movies that can be either downloaded or linked to on the web.  These ZoomImages allow you to embed pictures in webpages or PowerPoint presentations where you can zoom in, pan and zoom out.  This allows you to take a closer look at high resolution pictures.

Fieldwork/Virtual Fieldwork Examples, Tutorials and Assessments:

GEOLOGY: Earth Physics and Earth Movements Simulated fieldwork study

Click on the link above to download a packet authored by Andrew McLeish for Learning + Teaching Scotland. In reading the packet, it may be helpful to start at the end.  The student pages are an appendix and simple, helpful assessment rubrics are also near the end of the document.

Observational Skills for Geoscience Fieldwork

This online tutorial focuses on the creation and appropriate use of the field notebook and especially on the how to draw and label field sketches.  The tutorial is written for an introductory university geoscience course.  While not beyond the cognitive abilities of high school students, completing the entire tutorial probably goes beyond what most teachers would have time to do with students.  The teacher, however, may find completing the tutorial a useful professional development activity, especially if the teacher’s own fieldwork experience is limited.  It provides a very good framework for maintaining field notebooks that should work at any level of instruction.

Teaching in the Field

This site from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers offers field guides both for specific field trips and for more general issues like safety.   There are also many, many useful links.

Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience

This site is part of the larger entity, Science Education Research Center at Carleton College.  The site does target introductory college geoscience, but much of the materials and perhaps all of the pedagogical approaches are adaptable to K-12.  Note that many college geoscience students have had little or no geoscience education since middle school.

From the homepage:

Learn about instructional methods that work with entry-level geoscience students. This site is designed for faculty and graduate students teaching undergraduate entry-level geoscience, environmental science, or related courses. Each section describes a teaching method, why/when it is useful, how it can be implemented, and a set of examples spanning the Earth system that can be used in your class.

Project Affiliated Websites:

VirtualFieldwork.org

This site provides an overview of the National Science Foundation funded project that drives this work.  The site describes the rationAimed at teachers who want to communicate the basics of regional geology to their students. Southeastern version also available – installments on other regions of the U.S. are in preparation.ale for the project and describes the involved individuals and institutions.  There is a classroom vignette of what a VFE might look like in practice, discussion of the “Mother of All VFEs” (The NASA Rover Mission to Mars) and more.  As the project develops, links to an increasing number of VFEs will be posted on the site.

TeacherFriendlyGuide.org

The Teacher Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Northeast US is the first of a series of guides that, upon completion, will cover the entire United States. Aimed at teachers who want to communicate the basics of regional geology to their students. Southeastern version also available – installments on other regions of the U.S. are in preparation.

The Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth

PRI and its Museum of the Earth house the project.

The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) is a natural history museum located in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1932, PRI has outstanding programs in research, collections, publications, and public outreach. The Institution cares for a collection of 2-3 million specimens (one of the 10 largests in the U.S.), and publishes the oldest paleontological journal in the Western Hemisphere (Bulletins of American Paleontonology, begun in 1895).

In 2003 PRI opened the Museum of the Earth on its campus on Ithaca’s West Hill, overlooking Cayuga Lake. The Museum is an 18,000-square-foot education and exhibit facility whose exhibits and programs cover the entire spectrum of the history of the Earth and its life, with a particular focus on the Northeastern United States.

PRI is a national leader in development of informal (i.e., outside the classroom) Earth science education resources for educators and the general public. PRI is separate from but formally affiliated with nearby Cornell University, and interacts closely with numerous units of the University in research, teaching, and public outreach.