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Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Volume 53, 2025

Research on Teaching Geoscience with Virtual Field Experiences

  • Steven Semken1, Chris Mead1, Kristen Foley2, Thomas Ruberto3, Geoffrey Bruce1 and Ariel D. Anbar1,4
  • 1Center for Education Through Exploration, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA; email: [email protected] 2Department of Math and Science, Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA 3Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler, Arizona, USA 4School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
  • Vol. 53:425-442 (Volume publication date May 2025)
  • First published as a Review in Advance on February 14, 2025
  • Copyright © 2025 by the author(s).
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information.

Abstract

Field experiences are highly valued in geoscience education. However, logistical, financial, and accessibility challenges associated with fieldwork and rapid advancements in technology have all prompted geoscience educators to explore virtual field experiences (VFEs) as alternatives. Rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of VFEs has not kept pace with their implementation, but recent studies offer meaningful and actionable findings that can inform ongoing and future use of VFEs in geoscience education. We present a review of selected studies that address three significant aspects of this still-evolving modality. First, we examine current characterization and classification of VFEs. Second, we examine studies that evaluate the effectiveness of teaching with VFEs. Third, we extend this review to studies that compare VFEs with in-person field experiences (IPFEs). The studies we review demonstrate that VFEs are a valuable approach to teaching introductory geoscience content, even compared to IPFEs.

  • ▪  Challenges associated with field geoscience education and improvements in technology have led geoscience educators to develop and implement virtual field experiences (VFEs) as teaching tools.
  • ▪  VFEs are tested, practical, and effective alternatives to in-person field experiences in introductory geoscience education.

Keyword(s): field geology, field-based education, geoscience education, virtual education, virtual field experiences, virtual reality
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2025-05-30
2025-06-19
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