An Immersive Virtual Field Experience Structuring Method for Geoscience Education

Digital outcrop models (DOMs) have facilitated quantitative and qualitative studies in digital and virtual environments of source and reservoir rock analogs important to the oil industry. The use of immersive virtual reality (iVR) to extend field experiences has motivated several research groups to develop software integrating iVR techniques with tools to interpret and derive geological information from DOMs. This virtual approach can also contribute to the development of geological and spatial thinking skills taught in the classroom and during field trips. The immersive virtual field trips (iVFTs) can provide students access to outcrops and additional data restricted to field learning activities while allowing additional interactions impossible in the field. iVFTs have been developed recently; however, the structuring of iVFTs for geology classes has not been presented in a way that inexperienced iVR users can make use of such systems. In this scenario, our work proposes a method to structure an iVFT using georeferenced data containers and the virtual reality software Mosis LAB while evaluating users' perceptions during an iVFT study case. The evaluation using technology acceptance model questionnaires showed that users were positively impacted by the observational iVFT experience, effectively supporting e-learning, and class field learning activities and preparations. This approach allows field trip experiences in less accessible study sites, especially in less favorable conditions like the ones during the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic where many geoscience departments had their field trips hampered.