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Teaching with Digital 3D Models of

Minerals and Rocks

Graham D.M. Andrews*, Gabrielle D. Labishak, Sarah R. Brown, Shelby L. Isom, Holly D. Pettus, and Trevor Byers, Dept. of Geology
& Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA

The disruption to geoscience curricula photogrammetry techniques means that a photographs of outcrops undermined by not
due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights model can now be made in less than an hour being able to “lick the rock”? Here, we
the difficulty of making mineral and rock using a cellphone camera and free or low- describe our first-hand experiences using
samples accessible to students online rather cost software on a consumer-grade com- digital models during the migration to online
than through traditional lab classes. In puter. Sharing and viewing scientific 3D instruction in March 2020.
spring 2020, our community had to adapt models is now routine and 3D printers and
rapidly to remote instruction; this transition virtual-reality headsets are now common- DIVING IN
amplified existing disparities in access to place in schools and many homes. So why We set out to develop an online collection
geoscience education but can be a catalyst has this technology not taken off in geology of digital models of volcanic rocks and tex-
to increase accessibility and flexibility in programs? tures in spring 2019 to (1) take advantage of
instruction permanently. Fortunately, a rich our large and diverse sample collection,
collection of 3D mineral and rock samples IMPEDIMENTS TO ADOPTION including many unique samples; (2) make
is being generated by a community of digi- Major advances in making digital geosci- models available for remote instruction; and
tal modelers (e.g., Perkins et al., 2019). ence data available have not been distributed (3) share models with geoscience educators
equally between or within specific core dis- freely. Upon recognizing that model produc-
THE NEED ciplines. For example, the teaching of petrol- tion was straightforward, we expanded our
Exposing students to mineral and rock ogy has digital support for intermediate and target samples to include a small suite of min-
samples is an essential component of most advanced classes in microscopy, petrogra- erals and rocks for “Introduction to Minerals
earth-science classes. However, we lack a phy, and virtual field trips (e.g., Cho and and Rocks,” a required class for geology
widely accepted and accessible method to Clary, 2020). However, most efforts are majors. As soon as COVID-19 disruption
teach basic rock and mineral description, directed to upper-level classes for geology became critical, we produced models for a
identification, and classification other than majors and are less useful for introductory representative suite of rock samples, mainly
with physical hand samples. This impedes classes where the most students will engage igneous and metamorphic.
online teaching of geoscience, and it seems with rocks and minerals, often for the first
obvious that this restricts the potential for and only time. MODEL CONSTRUCTION AND
growth in online classes. It discriminates Personal experience and anecdotal evi- DISSEMINATION
against differently abled students and those dence gathered from online discussions sup- Our photography set-up consists of a light-
unable to attend typical in-person classes port the conclusion that many faculty feel box, turntable, LED lights, and an 18 MP
(e.g., Carabajal et al., 2017). Furthermore, that students must be able to handle mineral digital camera on a tripod (Fig. 1A), costing
the emphasis on physical samples favors and rock samples to develop a complete less than US$100 without the camera.
programs with large and diverse sample understanding. There is no doubt that ele- We use Agisoft Metashape Pro photogram-
collections: often older, better-funded, and ments of mineral identification are heavily metry software (Fig. 1B; annual academic
more prestigious schools. dependent on physical interaction with spec- license US$559**) on graphics-accelerated
Digital samples have the potential to imens: hardness tests, steak-plate tests, heft, PCs noting processing time scales with
address many of these problems albeit with and feeling the soapiness of talc, for exam- RAM, and processor and GPU speeds. The
some drawbacks. “Virtual Rocks” (De Paor, ple. But if these cannot be replicated in an model is uploaded to Sketchfab.com (http://
.
2016) have been generated from real sam- online environment, is that justification to sketchfab com/WVUpetrology; Fig. 1C)
ples for as long as 3D scanning technology not use digital models? We say “no”—many where we store and share it. A Sketchfab
has been available but have had limited important observations of minerals, and Pro academic license is US$100. All our
impact and application. The development of most observations of rock samples, can be models have digital object identifiers
low-cost and rapid structure-from-motion and often must be made by eye. Are field and are free to download. Our workflow

GSA Today, v. 30, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG464GW.1. Copyright 2020, The Geological Society of America. CC-BY-NC.

*Email: gda0005@mix.wvu.edu.

** Correction: This original version of this article identified the software as Agisoft Metashape Basic photogrammetry software with an annual academic license price of
US$59, but at press time the authors became aware that Pro is now required. The article was modified to reflect this.

42 GSA Today | September 2020