Virtual Field Trips
Whether you'd like to explore a far off place from the safety your classroom or create your own online exhibit for others to experience, this website provides a great place to begin learning about virtual field trips.
Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends,
but is played out over and over again
the mind can never break off from the journey.
- Pat Conroy, American writer
Many students come to school with very limited experiences. They may never have left the town or county where they live. Schools help children reach beyond their small world. The learning environments that we create impact the careers students choose and their paths later in life.
Use the following links to learn more about virtual field trips.
Explore Virtual Field Trips
Visit Antarctica, explore the bottom of the ocean, or tour historic Philadelphia, these are only a few of the many virtual field trips available on the Internet.
Begin your exploration with the following three websites:
Use the following list of questions to help you evaluate the quality of the virtual field trip.
- What are the major strengths of the virtual field trip?
- What are the major weaknesses of the trip?
- What would you change if you were creating the trip?
- Is it a quality project?
- Does the virtual field trip meet curriculum goals?
- Is it a good use of time?
- Is it a good use of the Internet? Or would a video, book, or other tool be as effective?
Use Virtual Field Trips
Once you've found a field trip that meetings your needs, you're ready to integrate it into your classroom activities.
Explore the following ideas for classroom use.
- What curriculum standards does this field trip address?
- Where will this resource be used in my lesson: as a springboard activity, information exploration, practice, or closure?
- How would you introduce this project?
- What guidance will students need in using this resource (i.e., guiding questions, handouts, worksheets)?
- How would you manage the time spent on the virtual adventure? Are there areas when students might get bogged down or confused? Would you print some aspects of the website?
- What are the logistics of the technology? Would you use the trip as a whole class experience? Would you use it as part of a learning station? Would you be using wireless computers or the computer lab? Would these need to be scheduled?
- Do you envision individuals working through the field trip or small groups working as a team? Could different groups explore different areas and come together or jigsaw their findings?
- Will you have a thematic field trip headquarters? It's fun to decorate the classroom for the theme including banners, bulletin boards, screen savers, notebooks, clipboards, books, displays, and other resources.
- Will any of my students have difficulty using the resource because of their special needs (i.e., visual disabilities, reading level)?
- What tools will be used to assess student performance?
Adapt Virtual Field Trips
In many cases you won't find a virtual field trip that meets your needs exactly. For example, you might identify a trip that is written at a higher reading level than your students. Or, it might not contain enough photographs for students to understand the context of the trip. Fear not. You can still use the website, just make some modification to your plan.
Use the ideas below to adapt a virtual field trip.
- If the reading level is too high, consider copying the photos into PowerPoint and making your own show for your classroom. Be sure to give credit to the original website and don't repost them without permission.
- If you find linkrot at the website, consider using the core idea and adding your own graphics or additional links.
- If you find a number of good virtual field trips, mix and match the best of each to create your own field trip.
- If the concepts presented are too low or high for your students, develop a supplemental guide to go with the trip. Think of it as a "travel guide" that will help them with vocabulary and other information. You can also use this travel guide approach for other purposes such as background information and guiding questions.
- If the field trip doesn't fit the particular region or topic of your class activities, considering using the field trip for comparison. For example, if the field trip is set in one city, ask students to speculate on what might be different in another city. If the field trip is set in one national park, ask students to compare this park to another park. Field trip comparison and analysis are great opportunities for thinking.
- If the field trip is limited, consider using it as a springboard and asking students to expand it. Think of the field trip as a "starter" or "prompt" to get students started building their own. Provide photos, information, and other materials to help them get started.
Create Virtual Field Trips
Often there's not a virtual field trip on a topic of interest. Why not create your own? In some cases you can take your own live field trip and record the event on web pages. For example, you might work with a local historic site to develop a virtual tour.
In other cases, you can use archived resources to simulate an exploration. For example, you can't go back in history, but you can create a virtual adventure using photographs, recordings, and other digitized historical artifacts.
Use the following list to develop your own virtual field trip.
- Start by brainstorming the possibilities. Explore all the topics, locations, resources, and information that might be helpful.
- Develop a plan that includes the logistics of the trip, equipment needed, and all the activities of the trip.
- Explore the curriculum and see if you can find interesting cross-curriculum applications.
- Carefully prepare for the trip and develop contingency plans. For example, what happens if it rains? Be sure to take twice as many digital photographs as you thing you'll need. Consider recording the event many different ways using still cameras, video cameras, notetaking, audio recording, and other data collection tools.
- Take your trip and collect all the necessary information.
- Build your virtual field trip including "travel guides" for users and teachers. Be sure to include an introduction, background information, good tools for navigating the resources, user advice, and a grand conclusion.
- Field test your virtual field trip to check for content and technical errors.
- Share your trip with the world.
