Background/Question/Methods The 4DEE Framework connects the traditional, hierarchical dimension of organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems with one or more other dimensions: scientific practices, crosscutting themes and the human dimension. Class field exercises clearly illustratrate how to connect foundational concepts with practices. Connecting to crosscutting themes like systems, scale, and biogeography can also be accomplished, but bridging to the human dimension often seems insurmountable. The TIEE-based Crosstown Walk provides a unique opportunity to illustrate how this can be done both in real and virtual space. Since 2005, the Crosstown Walk has been implemented in numerous campuses, in cities around the world and at ESA annual meetings. The Crosstown Walk fosters student examination of environmental changes along a socio-economic gradient through collection of both ecological and environmental data. For example, students examine ecological parameters like tree species height and condition; insect numbers and density; or bird diversity while they walk along a socioeconomic gradient collecting data on building type and value; modes of transportation; food and beverage store locations; population density; yard condition; and/or resident race and ethnicity. Prior to the onset of covid, students generally combined data collected on a “Crosstown Walk” with other data gathered from online or other sources. Results/Conclusions During the pandemic, we shifted to a variety of alternative collection methods using online resources that can provide different but often similar information. For instance, data on trees and canopy coverage were obtained from Google Earth; on transportation from city planning documents; on building type and value from Zillow.com; on census tract block group data (as an indicator of neighborhood economy) by combining observations on Google street view with estimates from Kelley Blue Book; on tree type, cover and condition from satellite imagery (or local databases like those from Casey Trees); and on racial/ethnic data from the US Census Bureau. Interestingly, online implementation of the Crosstown Walk provides opportunities to expand the approach by allowing students to develop their own research questions by sharing and comparing data across both space and time. Because virtual data collections means that students are not restricted to their campus location, they can collect data from a side variety of urban sites. Similarly, students are able to look beyond the present and into the past by examining changes over time using stored imagery and data. Thus, the Crosstown Walk provides an ideal exemplar for integrating the 4DEE approach into both real and virtual field exercises.
