TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtualizing soil science field trips
AU - Schulze, Darrell G.
AU - Rahmani, Shams R.
AU - Minai, Joshua O.
AU - Johnston, Cliff T.
AU - Fulk-Bringman, Sherry S.
AU - Scott, John R.
AU - Kong, Ningning Nicole
AU - Li, Yue Shirley
AU - Mashtare, Michael L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Purdue University Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) has determined that the project described above qualifies as exempt from IRB review under federal human subjects research regulations 45 CFR 46.104. We thank Ally E. Jacoby for sharing her soil profile diagrams for Figure 4, and two anonymous reviewers who provided suggestions for improving the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Natural Sciences Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In response to the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020, we created hybrid–virtual or fully virtual field trips to replace in-person field trips in two courses. For an introductory soil science course with 178 students enrolled, we used a narrative format supported by 360° ground-level and drone photos, newspaper articles, videos, websites, and landscape diagrams. After reading the narratives, the students took a quiz and then visited the sites (public parks near campus) on their own. For the advanced pedology course with seven students enrolled, a virtual trip replaced an all-day field trip that travels a 100-mile route from West Lafayette to Michigan City, IN. The virtual trip was created within the Soil Explorer platform and consists of >50 points of interest (POIs) overlayed on detailed soil maps. Each POI includes relevant information about the soils, agriculture, geology, geomorphology, or history at that point. At two POIs students examined four or five soils along two transects by filling in worksheets using the official series descriptions. Learning was facilitated by a study guide. Effectiveness was assessed by anonymous surveys. Students found the hybrid–virtual or fully virtual field trips informative, interesting, enjoyable, and appropriate given the pandemic. For the introductory class, 42% preferred a virtual field trip format, 39% preferred an in-person format, and 19% were neutral. In the advanced class there was with a clear preference for in-person field trips.
AB - In response to the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020, we created hybrid–virtual or fully virtual field trips to replace in-person field trips in two courses. For an introductory soil science course with 178 students enrolled, we used a narrative format supported by 360° ground-level and drone photos, newspaper articles, videos, websites, and landscape diagrams. After reading the narratives, the students took a quiz and then visited the sites (public parks near campus) on their own. For the advanced pedology course with seven students enrolled, a virtual trip replaced an all-day field trip that travels a 100-mile route from West Lafayette to Michigan City, IN. The virtual trip was created within the Soil Explorer platform and consists of >50 points of interest (POIs) overlayed on detailed soil maps. Each POI includes relevant information about the soils, agriculture, geology, geomorphology, or history at that point. At two POIs students examined four or five soils along two transects by filling in worksheets using the official series descriptions. Learning was facilitated by a study guide. Effectiveness was assessed by anonymous surveys. Students found the hybrid–virtual or fully virtual field trips informative, interesting, enjoyable, and appropriate given the pandemic. For the introductory class, 42% preferred a virtual field trip format, 39% preferred an in-person format, and 19% were neutral. In the advanced class there was with a clear preference for in-person field trips.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118277208&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85118277208&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/nse2.20046
DO - 10.1002/nse2.20046
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85118277208
SN - 2168-8273
VL - 50
JO - Natural Sciences Education
JF - Natural Sciences Education
IS - 1
M1 - e20046
ER -