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Field-Based Geoscience Education

during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Planning,

Execution, Outcomes, and Forecasts

Jonathan R. Rotzien, Basin Dynamics LLC and University of Houston, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1875 Post Oak Park
Drive, Houston, Texas 77027, USA, jon@basindynamics.com; Ryan Sincavage, Radford University, Geology Dept., Box 6939, Radford,
Virginia 24142-6939, USA, rsincavage@radford.edu; Christopher Pellowski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Dept. of
Geology and Geological Engineering, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA, christopher.pellowski@sdsmt.edu;
Yann Gavillot, Montana Tech University, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, Montana 59701, USA, ygavillot@mtech.edu;
Harry Filkorn, Pierce College, Physics and Planetary Sciences, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills, California 91371, USA, filkornh@
piercecollege.edu; Scott Cooper, FractureStudies LLC, 99 Rainbow Road, Suite 4-5, Edgewood, New Mexico 87015, USA, scott@
fracturestudies.com; Jeremy Shannon, Michigan Tech University, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend
Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA, jmshanno@mtu.edu; Umit Yildiz, Foster Sawyer, Nuri Uzunlar, South Dakota School of Mines
and Technology, Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA, umit.yildiz@
sdsmt.edu; foster.sawyer@sdsmt.edu; nuri.uzunlar@sdsmt.edu

ABSTRACT and the Board of Regents; (iii) logistics, trans- including the subfields of sedimentology,
The undergraduate geoscience experience portation, accommodation, and dining ser- stratigraphy, mineralogy, structural geology,
typically culminates in a field-based capstone vices require advanced levels of consideration and metamorphic and igneous petrology.
course that utilizes outcrop mapping, geologic to adequately address COVID-19–related risk Some specialized field camps provide more
observation, and interpretation across multi- and uncertainty; (iv) online teaching and opportunities for students to develop their
ple disciplines to provide the graduating geol- exercises can address geological field meth- interests in fields such as volcanology, geo-
ogist with fundamental field-mapping skills. ods, but they cannot adequately assess a stu- physics (Bank and Rotzien, 2007), structure
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dent’s ability to map geology in the field; (v) and thrust-belt tectonics, sedimentary basin
many of the field-based geoscience programs field-mapping exercises need to be adjusted to analysis and applied petroleum geoscience
have been temporarily suspended or shifted to reduce the number of people in one field area (Anderson et al., 1999; Rotzien et al., 2020,
an online format. To address the demand for and lower their interaction to support social- and references therein), or environmental
graduating seniors in the broad field of geo- distancing guidelines from relevant govern- hazard mitigation. Whichever type of field
science, the South Dakota School of Mines ment and health authorities; and (vi) plans camp a student chooses to complete, it is
and Technology developed an innovative need to be put into place for overall health and intended to be one of the highlights of their
hybrid course consisting of two parts: (i) a safety as well as contingency plans in the undergraduate geoscience learning experi-
14-day online course on geological field event of an outbreak before and during the ence. However, during the COVID-19 pan-
methods, followed by (ii) a 15-day in-person field camp. We hope that this experience of demic, many field camps were canceled,
geologic mapping course based out of Rapid delivering a geology field camp during the postponed, or fully converted to an online
City, South Dakota, USA. Analysis of this COVID-19 pandemic is useful in providing format. These cancellations and modifica-
new hybrid course provides a benchmark on a benchmark on reasonable field-camp prac- tions caused demand for face-to-face field
how to develop and execute field-based geo- tices, identifying critical successes and camps for graduating seniors to rise. In order
science education with greater accessibility to unknowns, and guiding field-camp develop- to address this demand, the Black Hills
field geology through a combination of online ment during pandemics. We also hope this Natural Sciences Field Station (BHNSFS) at
and face-to-face teaching. Our hybrid course contribution will serve as a useful guide for the South Dakota School of Mines and
model was taught during the first summer of universities and businesses that intend to Technology (SDSMT) developed a hybrid
the pandemic (28 June to 28 July 2020), and engage in face-to-face activities during this course consisting of two parts: an online
this experience provided the following time of uncertainty. geological field methods course followed by
insights: (i) there are four key stages to lead- a field-based geologic mapping course.
ing a field camp over a five-month timeline: INTRODUCTION The task of building this hybrid course
development, logistics planning, implementa- Undergraduate geoscience disciplines set was not a simple process. Constructing a
tion, and review; (ii) key decision makers and themselves apart from other natural science field camp during the COVID-19 pandemic
stakeholders in the process include the stu- curricula in that they generally require a required attention to key factors, including:
dents, instructors, field-camp logisticians, multi-week field-based geologic mapping (i) pre-camp online field methods exercises;
campus dining and housing facilitators, field- capstone course to graduate. These field (ii) logistics, such as accommodations, din-
station director, department chair, provost, camps cover a broad spectrum of topics, ing, and transportation; and (iii) contingency

GSA Today, v. 31, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG483A.1. CC-BY-NC.

4 GSA Today | March-April 2021