Applying virtual reality technology and CDIO to geological subjects is very effective to make education targeted at the development of the creative abilities of students, and not simply the provision of knowledge and to make them active in their learning.
Kim Jae Yong, a researcher at the Faculty of Earth Science and Technology, developed a virtual reality program for students to experience all the movements (magmatism, metamorphism, speed and scale of movements, etc.), changes and development (formation of strata, circulation of the air, weathering, circulation of water, erosion action, etc.) of the earth and to discover the geology of certain places. Then, he combined it with CDIO in several major subjects such as exercise of geological survey and structural geology, thus enhancing the cognition level and practical abilities of students in a short period of time.
First, to develop the program, he standardized our country’s geology in several grades and made virtual geology models with all necessary contents of the subject so that students could plan and design a survey process of geological indexes on their own anytime in the virtual reality.
Next, he applied CDIO to raise the effectiveness of the geological survey based on the virtual reality program.
In the first step, he asked his students to extract basic geological information of the areas assigned to them from “collection of geological map sheet” and previous literature so that they could conceive an idea to choose appropriate survey methods and density in consideration of the features of the geology for the quickest and correct survey.
In the second step, he encouraged them to design survey stages, paths and methods, and to make a plan to collect data necessary for making geological maps.
In the third step, he made them implement their plan in order to do a virtual survey, to decide on each survey path and point, record them in their notebooks of geological field survey, to transfer collected data to the geological mapping system to make geological maps, geological cross section maps and geological column maps.
In the last step, he let them compare their survey and maps with factual information to correct errors and to predict underground resources available in the survey areas.
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