The disruption to geoscience curricula due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulty of making mineral and rock samples accessible to students online rather than through traditional lab classes. In spring 2020, our community had to adapt rapidly to remote instruction; this transition amplified existing disparities in access to geoscience education but can be a catalyst to increase accessibility and flexibility in instruction permanently. Fortunately, a rich collection of 3D mineral and rock samples is being generated by a community of digital modelers (e.g., Perkins et al., 2019)

Andrews, Graham DM

Brown, Sarah

Byers, Trevor

Isom, Shelby L

Labishak, Gabrielle

Pettus, Holly Danielle

English

The Research Repository @ WVU (West Virginia University)

Faculty & Staff Scholarship Fall 2020 Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks Graham DM Andrews West Virginia University, graham.andrews@mail.wvu.edu Gabrielle Labishak West Virginia University, gdl0006@mix.wvu.edu Sarah Brown West Virginia University, srbrown19@gmail.com Shelby L. Isom West Virginia University, sli0005@mix.wvu.edu Holly Danielle Pettus West Virginia University, hdpettus@mix.wvu.edu See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications  Part of the Educational Technology Commons, Geology Commons, Instructional Media Design Commons, Online and Distance Education Commons, and the Science and Mathematics Education Commons Digital Commons Citation Andrews, Graham DM; Labishak, Gabrielle; Brown, Sarah; Isom, Shelby L.; Pettus, Holly Danielle; and Byers, Trevor, "Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks" (2020). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2915. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2915 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Research Repository @ WVU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty & Staff Scholarship by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact ian.harmon@mail.wvu.edu. Authors Graham DM Andrews, Gabrielle Labishak, Sarah Brown, Shelby L. Isom, Holly Danielle Pettus, and Trevor Byers This article is available at The Research Repository @ WVU: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2915 Graham D.M. Andrews*, Gabrielle D. Labishak, Sarah R. Brown, Shelby L. Isom, Holly D. Pettus, and Trevor Byers, Dept. of Geology & Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USAThe disruption to geoscience curricula due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulty of making mineral and rock samples accessible to students online rather than through traditional lab classes. In spring 2020, our community had to adapt rapidly to remote instruction; this transition amplified existing disparities in access to geoscience education but can be a catalyst to increase accessibility and flexibility in instruction permanently. Fortunately, a rich collection of 3D mineral and rock samples is being generated by a community of digi-tal modelers (e.g., Perkins et al., 2019).THE NEEDExposing students to mineral and rock samples is an essential component of most earth-science classes. However, we lack a widely accepted and accessible method to teach basic rock and mineral description, identification, and classification other than with physical hand samples. This impedes online teaching of geoscience, and it seems obvious that this restricts the potential for growth in online classes. It discriminates against differently abled students and those unable to attend typical in-person classes (e.g., Carabajal et al., 2017). Furthermore, the emphasis on physical samples favors programs with large and diverse sample collections: often older, better-funded, and more prestigious schools.Digital samples have the potential to address many of these problems albeit with some drawbacks. “Virtual Rocks” (De Paor, 2016) have been generated from real sam-ples for as long as 3D scanning technology has been available but have had limited impact and application. The development of low-cost and rapid structure-from-motion photogrammetry techniques means that a model can now be made in less than an hour using a cellphone camera and free or low-cost software on a consumer-grade com-puter. Sharing and viewing scientific 3D models is now routine and 3D printers and virtual-reality headsets are now common-place in schools and many homes. So why has this technology not taken off in geology programs?IMPEDIMENTS TO ADOPTIONMajor advances in making digital geosci-ence data available have not been distributed equally between or within specific core dis-ciplines. For example, the teaching of petrol-ogy has digital support for intermediate and advanced classes in microscopy, petrogra-phy, and virtual field trips (e.g., Cho and Clary, 2020). However, most efforts are directed to upper-level classes for geology majors and are less useful for introductory classes where the most students will engage with rocks and minerals, often for the first and only time.Personal experience and anecdotal evi-dence gathered from online discussions sup-port the conclusion that many faculty feel that students must be able to handle mineral and rock samples to develop a complete understanding. There is no doubt that ele-ments of mineral identification are heavily dependent on physical interaction with spec-imens: hardness tests, steak-plate tests, heft, and feeling the soapiness of talc, for exam-ple. But if these cannot be replicated in an online environment, is that justification to not use digital models? We say “no”—many important observations of minerals, and most observations of rock samples, can be and often must be made by eye. Are field photographs of outcrops undermined by not being able to “lick the rock”? Here, we describe our first-hand experiences using digital models during the migration to online instruction in March 2020.DIVING INWe set out to develop an online collection of digital models of volcanic rocks and tex-tures in spring 2019 to (1) take advantage of our large and diverse sample collection, including many unique samples; (2) make models available for remote instruction; and (3) share models with geoscience educators freely. Upon recognizing that model produc-tion was straightforward, we expanded our target samples to include a small suite of min-erals and rocks for “Introduction to Minerals and Rocks,” a required class for geology majors. As soon as COVID-19 disruption became critical, we produced models for a representative suite of rock samples, mainly igneous and metamorphic.MODEL CONSTRUCTION AND DISSEMINATIONOur photography set-up consists of a light-box, turntable, LED lights, and an 18 MP digital camera on a tripod (Fig. 1A), costing less than US$100 without the camera. We use Agisoft Metashape Pro photogram-metry software (Fig. 1B; annual academic license US$559**) on graphics-accelerated PCs noting processing time scales with RAM, and processor and GPU speeds. The model is uploaded to Sketchfab.com (http://sketchfab .com/WVUpetrology; Fig. 1C) where we store and share it. A Sketchfab Pro academic license is US$100. All our models have digital object identifiers and are free to download. Our workflow GSA Today, v. 30, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG464GW.1. Copyright 2020, The Geological Society of America. CC-BY-NC. *Email: gda0005@mix.wvu.edu. **Correction: This original version of this article identified the software as Agisoft Metashape Basic photogrammetry software with an annual academic license price of US$59, but at press time the authors became aware that Pro is now required. The article was modified to reflect this. Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks(Supplemental Material1) is explained in a series of YouTube videos (currently in production; see https://www .youtube.com/watch?v=s6D6xFee7fU). Students can be trained quickly and be making models the same day. The software struggles to replicate reflective samples, those with homogeneous color, and those with complex morphologies.CURATED SKETCHFAB COLLECTIONSOur most novel action is to divide our sam-ples into thematic collections on Sketchfab .com (http://sketchfab.com/WVUpetrology /collections) and to systematically add over 80 other users’ models. As of June 2020, we have collections for minerals (n = 201), crystallog-raphy (53), igneous (320), metamorphic (276), sedimentary (255) and volcanic (251) rocks, meteorites (26), and fault-related rocks (28). New models are added daily. Samples range from mundane minerals and rocks essential for introductory classes through to museum-quality specimens. Samples divide into those that are labeled and those that come without information to facilitate online quizzes.USE DURING COVID-19Digital models cannot substitute for phys-ical hand samples without changing the structure of lab classes. Limited assessment data indicate that students enjoy the virtual interaction and are confident with the tech-nology (Alelis et al., 2015), and that they appreciate the flexibility it allows (Cho and Clary, 2020). However, students miss the hands-on examination and testing of speci-mens, and interactions with other students.Rather than trying to substitute digital models in extant labs, we redesigned our labs around the digital models and virtual field trips. Enough models were available to intro-duce and apply modal mineral analyses to plutonic rocks and to allow students to reli-ably identify phenocrysts and porphyro-blasts, for example. Students were able to distinguish between different rock types and to interpret textural information from the 3D models (e.g., bedding, etc.). Where important mineral information is not obvious (e.g., cal-cite reacting to HCl), we provide the neces-sary information in the questions.FINAL THOUGHTSDigital models of minerals and rocks are easy to produce and deploy in online classes, and although imperfect, they have advan-tages over hands-on samples when labs are redesigned accordingly. A large and growing collection of samples is being generated on Sketchfab.com, meaning that there has never been an easier time to include 3D models in your classes.REFERENCES CITEDAlelis, G., Bobrowicz, A., and Ang See Chiang, 2015, Comparison of engagement and emotional responses of older and younger adults interacting with 3D cultural heritage artefacts on personal devices: Behaviour & Information Technology, v. 34, no. 11, p. 1064–1078, https://doi.org/ 10.1080/ 0144929X.2015.1056548.Carabajal, I.G., Marshall, A.M., and Atchison, C.L., 2017, A synthesis of instructional strategies in geo-science education literature that address barriers to inclusion for students with disabilities: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 65, p. 531–541, https://doi.org/10.5408/16-211.1.Cho, Y., and Clary, R.M., 2020, Challenges and op-portunities for virtual learning in college geology, in Mintzes, J.J., and Walters, E.M., eds., Active Learning in College Science: Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3 -030-33600-4_44.De Paor, D.G., 2016, Virtual rocks: GSA Today, v. 26, no. 8, p. 4–11, https://doi.org/10.1130/ GSATG257A.1.Perkins, D., Stene, N., Schultz, A., Bentley, C., and Hollister, R., 2019, Rocks and minerals—A library of 3-dimensional images for classroom use: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 51, no. 5, https://doi.org/ 10.1130/abs/2019AM-335150.Manuscript received 28 apr. 2020 revised Manuscript received 9 June 2020 Manuscript accepted 11 June 2020Figure 1. (A) Sample photography setup. (B) Model construction in Agisoft Metashape. (C) Finished model on Sketchfab.com.1Supplemental Material: methodology. Please visit https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAT.S.12493373 to access the supplemental material, and contact editing@geosociety.org with any questions.

Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks

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Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks

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