| Abstract Detail
Education and Outreach Vago, Emily [1], Glass, Patrick [1], Krakos, Kyra [1]. How to Teach Ecology in a Missouri Winter: Using Ecological Data in a Virtual Reality Environment as a Teaching Tool. How can we apply ecology as a year-round educational resource to the community? A variety of different field habitats creates multiple opportunities for research in plant ecology. These experiences are most effective when the science at the field site is connected to the science in the laboratory setting for a more complete understanding of research and scientific methods for students. Student access to these locations and learning experiences may be a challenge for many reasons: bloom times of plant species, unpredictable weather conditions, conflicts with timing of school years, and school financial resources. Creating virtual learning spaces is a solution to overcoming some of these challenges. Using virtual reality (VR) technology, we created an interactive experience connecting field research to lab research in a comprehensive educational module for teachers and students to use as a year-round resource for real-world ecology learning. Specifically, in this study: we created VR environments using 360 cameras in both the lab and field setting across the growing season of populations of Veronicastrum as a focal study plant, using native plant data collected from 2016-2018 and in summer 2019, we created infographics, videos of the research process, and correlated learning activities that connect the field and lab research experiences in a module embedded in the VR environment, and we made VR learning modules and lesson plans available to the public.
Log in to add this item to your schedule
Related Links:
VR link to project
1 - Maryville University, College of Arts and Sciences, 650 Maryville University Dr, MO, 63141, USA
Keywords:
Education
Virtual reality
Ecology.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: ED3, Education & Outreach III: Teaching tools, Laboratories and Research Experiences
Location: /
Date: Wednesday, July 21st, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM(EDT)
Number: ED3001
Abstract ID:1056
Candidate for Awards:None |
