The Virtual Field Station (VFS): using a virtual reality environment for ecological fieldwork in A-Level biological studies-Case Study 3

Case studies are one way of producing the evidential base necessary for ICT to become embedded in everyday teaching and learning. Such case studies are vital for the purposes of generalisation. Also, teacher generated case‐studies have the benefit of being research that is done by teachers in conjunction with Higher Education support and mediation, as opposed to research being done to teachers by Higher Education. One such teacher‐generated case study at the cutting edge of ICT researches the effectiveness of a Virtual Field Station for the teaching of an A Level biology topic. The subject was the exotic one of the Mediterranean sea turtle. Student fieldwork involving these fascinating creatures is desirable but difficult, as the sea turtle's habitat is the archipelago of the Aegean Sea. The paper argues that a Virtual Field Centre is an effective substitute for actuality in terms of the development of student knowledge and understanding for examination purposes. As such, it is an innovative development that sits at the forefront of an area of Science Education that is rapidly developing, ie ICT‐mediated teaching and learning.