I spent some time this week playing around with different virtual field trip sites. I have discovered a few things. I will discuss the negative part first. I thought that some of the sites were no different than simply having a webpage with facts, pictures, and links. For example, I took this one trip to learn about dinosaurs. There were links for different types of dinosaurs, and when I clicked on one it just took me to another page with photos and facts. To me, this is not much different than reading about it in a book or watching a teacher's presentation. I felt like I had a more enthusiastic trip when I watched Jurassic Park for the first time. Another day I was packed, ready (meaning I brought my coffee with me to my computer desk) and excited to learn about Shakespeare. This was very similar to the dinosaur site. It had categorized information with questions to answer as you read. Again, I don't see how this is much different from reading and filling out a worksheet. On the up side, these sites do save a lot of time in planning. If you wanted to use them in a lesson, there is definitely a lot of information. I just wouldn't present them to the students as "field trips". These would be the "field tricks" I refer to in my title.
As for the positives, I found out that using an interactive site makes the trip much better! There were many sites that offered tours with 360 views. Just like when you are using Google Maps Street View, I think it adds some authenticity. You do feel as if you are really there. I took a virtual tour of the Great Wall of China. As I went through, I could choose which direction I wanted to go or click to see the view from a particular window. It was pretty awesome. I also found great sites for French trips that I will use in class this year. One website offered numerous tours of monuments, museums, castles, and even cafés. Students can choose where they want to go in the places and also learn facts about them. For my content area, I think viewing these places through a 360 webcam is very effective. Sometimes when you take students to a museum or on a tour, the tour guides just lecture and not allow for a lot of exploration and hands on learning. So in some instances, these interactive virtual field trips could be better.
I will post the websites I found interesting below in case anyone wants to try them out.
Great Wall of China http://www.thebeijingguide.com/great_wall_of_china/index.html
Places in Paris http://paris.arounder.com/
I agree, your comments about the downsides of virtual field trips are very insightful, both the good and the bad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Great Wall of China link. I have not checked it out yet but you just potentially saved me HOURS of planning how I was going to climb the Wall this year. (China is one of my most dreaded units)
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have found in my searching I also agree with your "Tricks." For better or worse, so many of these kids need/want to be entertained and a few clicks with pictures and facts just won't do it. I will be careful how I impliment things like this to avoid the "snore factor" with my students. But, I have started to conisder such options for lower level students and differentiation.
I am already tossing around having them create their own field trip within some guidelines but that could be tricky in itself.
Thanks for helping me beg borrow and steal.
Great post, Jill. I agree completely that some field trips don't take advantage of the possibilities. It's kind of like using computers for drill and practice in math... probably not the best use of the tool.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, great blog overall thus far. Keep up the great work!
~ John