Using the virtual exploratorium to support inquiry-based learning in introductory geoscience courses: An ENSO example

The Virtual Exploratorium (VE) is an electronic learning environment for introductory undergraduate geoscience courses that enables students to use contemporary visualization techniques to investigate geophysical phenomena and engage in scientific inquiry. The VE has four principal components: 1. a 5D visualization tool, 2. authentic data sets tailored to student investigation, 3. a set of java-based tools students can use as probes in the visualization environment to support inquiry activities, and 4. tutorials to accompany the tools and assist students in understanding fundamental geoscience principles.

We will present an inquiry-based curriculum for the VE using the El Niño/Southern Oscillation phenomenon. Students will be asked a cycle of questions, prompting them to use the visualization tools to describe the phenomenon and work through relevant tutorials. This process will provoke new questions, and the student will start the cycle over again.

We will index the tutorials, along with other instructional materials in a hyper-linked virtual encyclopedia. The virtual encyclopedia will provide "just-in-time" instruction on a variety of basic physical processes important in the geosciences.