This activity is designed for use in freshman introductory geoscience and life science courses (intro to physical geology, historical geology, paleontology), but can also be used in a wide array of formal and informal educational settings. It is a self-guided virtual field trip (VFT) that gives the instructor maximum flexibility to customize the learning outcomes.

Students should have some basic knowledge of the geologic time scale, types of rocks, deposition, and glacial processes.

This is designed to be a stand-alone activity for students who have some basic knowledge of geologic time scale, types of rocks, deposition, and glacial processes.

Activity Length

This activity involves free exploration so its duration is set by the teacher. Exploration of two virtual field sites and embedded media (still images, two videos and an interactive gigapixel image) is estimated to take about 15-20 minutes.

In this self-guided VFT, students explore two field sites in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia where the rocks preserve evidence of the last "Snowball Earth" glacial age. At this time over 630 million years ago, ice sheets that had once covered the Earth from pole to pole were melting and retreating. The free exploration format of this VFT gives teachers the opportunity to design and customize activity goals to fit their curriculum.

Suggested outcomes could include:
Learning outcome #1: Identify and describe the unique depositional features in these sedimentary rocks.
Learning outcome #2: Determine what the environment was like that led to the formation of these features.
Learning outcome #3: Explain what major geological event was coming to an end at this time in Earth's history and how it played a role in the formation of these rocks.

Learners explore virtual environments to study layered deposits that were laid down in an ancient ocean after ice sheets had melted and retreated.

Making observations, recognizing patterns.

This activity is accessible at https://vft.asu.edu/ through the Center for Education Through eXploration (https://etx.asu.edu/) at Arizona State University. They build adaptive digital learning experiences for K-12 education that engage learners in virtual environments and bring Earth and space science to life.

Technology Needs

Real-time Internet access is required to view this VFT. We recommend the use of the browsers Google Chrome or Firefox for the best results. It is not optimized for viewing on mobile devices.

There are no embedded assessments associated with this self-guided VFT and it is up to the teacher to design an assessment tool to meet whatever learning outcomes they specify. Students can be asked to answer an essay question explaining some aspect of the VFT experience.