RAPID:The Virtual Field: Educational Mitigation for the Covid-19 Pandemic

Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML) need rapid support to create meaningful alternative field experiences that can help fulfill graduation requirements and prepare undergraduates and graduates for future careers. With a global distribution of 918 terrestrial, coastal, and marine stations (NRC 2014) and a 75% affiliation rate with universities, FSMLs are in a unique position to respond to this need. They have the ability to quickly create a wide variety of virtual experiences to teach observation skills, field techniques, and experimental design; they have direct contact with to cancelled university field classes across the U.S.; and they can undertake this work in a way that anticipates an on-going need for these resources - as part of further Covid-19 shutdowns and as a new and powerful tool for enhancing real-world learning experiences for students of all ages, backgrounds and disciplines. With RAPID funding, we will energize the existing networks of FSMLs to collaboratively create meaningful virtual field experiences across a range of ecosystems for students this summer.

National Science Foundation (NSF)