Kristyn Voegele
University of North Dakota, ND·Education Research
Field trips and hands-on outdoor work make students more likely to stay in science. They also raise learning gains and improve attitudes toward STEM.
- Fields
Education Research
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
virtual field trip
geoscience education
paleontology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2027
What they work on
- Develop an immersive, self-paced online Virtual Field Trip built from imagery and media of real dinosaur paleontology fieldwork for high school and early-college classrooms.
- Integrate core concepts from geography, math, physics and biology into the virtual paleontology expedition so teachers can embed geoscience problems in existing courses.
- Identify factors that contribute to effective recruitment and retention of students in the geoscience pipeline.
More about the research
Field trips, however, are costly. Physical disabilities and logistical limits keep many students from taking part, and this may reduce their interest in geoscience, a field central to energy, conservation and disaster preparedness. This collaborative project asks whether an immersive online experience can bring some of fieldwork's appeal to classrooms.
Why it matters
Students who cannot join costly or physically demanding field trips often miss a strong draw into geoscience. A free, self-paced virtual paleontology expedition could give high school and early-college teachers a ready resource for their classes. The project's findings on recruitment and retention could also help educators widen participation in geoscience careers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Danielle Oprean
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO·Education Research
Identify which features of web-based virtual field trips foster active spatial communication and group engagement among students, using thematic analysis of recorded instructor focus groups and design-based research in real courses.
Stephen Taylor
Western Oregon University, OR·Education Research
Increase enrollment, diversity and retention of undergraduates in the geosciences through mentored education built around community water resource partnerships.
Allyson Sterling
Regis University, CO·Education Research
Create a paid, faculty-mentored summer research program for students between their first and second year of college, lowering financial and experience barriers to authentic research for first-generation, Latine and working students in the life sciences.
The school
University of North Dakota: 5 labs on PI Pages, $197M a year on research, 112 research doctorates a year.
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