Abstract

An online environment for teaching and learning traditional lecture-based science poses few technological challenges, as media (e.g., video lectures, digital images, study guides, links to web resources) are easily created and delivered to students through laptops and cellphones. However, a traditional face-to-face science laboratory experience is one in which students typically spend extended time in small group collaborations observing and describing physical specimens, performing simple tests, and writing short reports. Is it possible for any elements of this student laboratory experience to be transformed for delivery through an online network? If so, what would such an experience for students look like? How would students “handle” an online “virtual” rock? Which learning objectives and procedures could be adapted for online deployment? These and other questions are critical components of today’s conversations as we struggle with transitions from face-to-face to online teaching and learning, especially for science laboratory instruction.

There is an increasing need to enable greater student access to learning resources beyond in-lab sample kits and traditional face-to-face campus environments and assigned meeting times. We are using a freshman level physical geology laboratory course as a testbed for formulating questions of pedagogy, creating online proxies for physical samples, and designing a software platform for managing student access to virtual rock and mineral samples, inter-student communication, and data collection for analysis and assessment.

We are building 3D models of rock samples for students to study online both individually and in groups. Although one might believe initially that a virtual rock could not possibly substitute for a physical sample, in fact there are some specific advantages associated with virtual models. These include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) an ability for multiple students to observe simultaneously the same model at the same time; 2) the ability to pinch-and-zoom a virtual rock for observation at a variety of magnifications; and 3) the ability of the software platform to collect student interactions with a virtual rock.

However impressive the technology is (and might be) for making possible the study of rock and mineral samples online, we recognize that the technology should be secondary and subservient to learning objectives. Can students learn procedures of scientific observation, analyze and interpret physical features, and integrate their knowledge and understanding, based on virtual rocks and minerals?

Our project is designed to address these critical issues, for which we believe generalized answers are at present lacking.

We will demonstrate examples of web-accessible 3D models viewable on laptops and cellphones, and present some pedagogical approaches adapted for the laboratory-like study of virtual rocks and minerals in the online environment.

Objectives

• There are technological pathways for creating 3D models of rock and mineral samples (and, by extension, almost any other material specimen, e.g., fish, flower, etc.).
• 3D ‘virtual’ rocks and minerals can extend the access to laboratory-like learning to online environments, thus enabling students to surmount barriers imposed by temporal and spatial constraints on limited access to laboratories.
• The platform we are developing for the deployment of virtual rocks and minerals will help address critical questions about the nature and efficacy of student learning when traditional, laboratory-based instruction is adapted for learning in an online environment.

Presenters

Scott Brande, UAB CAS, Chemistry
Educator. UAB, Assoc. Prof. Dept. of Chemistry; Dept. Electrical & Computer Engineering

• 38 years teaching geoscience (undergraduate and graduate level)
• broad research interests (e.g. cognitive learning with multimedia, statistics, paleontology)
• exploring video multimedia in education and outreach (over 150 public service presentations)

Professional.

• Licensed Professional Geologist, #415 (Alabama), 2017-2019

Discoverer.

• discovered fossil fish new to science - Sterropterygion brandei
• described by Dr. Keith Thomson, Yale Peabody Museum: http://goo.gl/t7q1gn

Co-developer of EZSnips (online Youtube video snipper without video editing)

• Member and Finalist in Alabama Launchpad competition, class of 2011-12
• www.linkedin.com/in/scottbrande

Scott Snyder, UAB School of Ed
Dr. Snyder (Purdue University) is an associate professor of educational research and evaluation at the UAB School of Education and Human Sciences. He holds a secondary appointment in the School of Engineering and is affiliated with several UAB research centers. For the past 17 years Dr. Snyder has directed the Center for Educational Accountability (CEA). The CEA conducts funded research and evaluation in education (preschool through postdoctoral programs), social services, science, and health programs. Dr. Snyder’s current research interests include applications of Rasch scaling, alternative approaches to grading in higher education, and the measurement of teamwork behaviors across disciplines.

Phillip "Corey" Shum, UAB Engineering and Innovative Technology Development group, School of Engineering
Corey Shum directs the Immersive Experience Lab (IXL) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he leads a cross-functional team of artists, developers, engineers, and programmers to develop application modules that employ immersive virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed-reality (MR) artificial experience technologies. His current research topics include neuropathic pain, the psychology of embodiment, vestibular rehabilitation, remote physical therapy, and real-time AR display of real-time medical imaging. Corey also directs development of novel and domain-specific devices for real-time human metric tracking and response, including body position, physiology, and attention.