2015 Conference

Poster Presentation

Place-based education is central to much of Environmental Studies.  However, factors such as class/lab time, access to nearby field sites, and budgetary constraints often limit the ability of instructors to physically transport students off campus on a regular basis.  In recent years, the widespread availability of mapping and visualization tools, such as those available in Google Earth, has opened the door for engaging students through virtual field trips.  Here, we discuss the development of a virtual field trip within Google Earth as a framework for classroom and lab activities based on data from the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory (CZO). The Calhoun CZO is one of ten CZO sites funded by the National Science Foundation to examine the physical, chemical, and biological processes operating at the Earth’s surface. The southern Piedmont landscape represented by the Calhoun CZO was severely impacted by soil erosion and water degradation in the 18^th to early 20^th century as a result of agricultural management; many of these farmlands were subsequently abandoned and the land returned to forest cover.  As such, the Calhoun CZO provides a unique opportunity for ES students to explore the legacy of historical land management and land cover change on the soils, water, and vegetation of the southern Piedmont.  Rather than presenting datasets and activities in a fixed, linear structure, virtual field trips can be used to provide a narrative arc that allows students to move through the landscape itself and engage with datasets/activities within a context of time and space.  Stops along the tour link directly to case studies, datasets, activities, and readings that can be incorporated into classroom and lab activities or remotely accessed by students as independent learning opportunities.