Virtual Field Trip Apps and Websites

Field trips are informal learning experiences that get students out into the world, exploring the world and students' interests. Trips to museums, parks, historical sites, and more show students that learning (and life) happens outside the classroom, too. During field trips, students discover new things and learn in authentic environments, placing classroom content into new contexts. Thankfully, there are great games, apps, and websites that can bring places and experiences fostered by field trips to the classroom. While not an outright replacement, these field trip tools can offer inspiring and intriguing experiences for students.

VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCES

NEARPOD

Teachers can use Nearpod to support student learning in a variety of ways. Give students opportunities for interaction and immediate feedback by having them draw on a map or diagram, respond to a poll question, post a note or image to a collaboration board, or take a multiple-choice quiz. Bring the world to your classroom by taking kids on a virtual field trip to a national park or a different country.

EXPEDITIONS

These engaging virtual field trips are beautiful and include everything needed to lead expeditions right away. With stunning scenes and a flexible delivery method, your students will thank you for journeying together through space and time.

TOUR CREATOR

Students studying their local community can create a guided tour of important buildings and landmarks. Older students could get permission to take their own 360-degree photos and record audio at specific locations or building interiors, adding those to their tours. Students studying different countries and cultures can create tours centered around places that show certain aspects of that culture. Learners could also make a tour tracing a historical figure's life.

ON-THE-GROUND REPORTING AND JOURNALISM

STORYCORPS

There's an extensive archive of fascinating and powerful interviews, as well as solid support for preparing, recording, and posting one of your own. It's a great resource to help demonstrate the value of listening and the importance of storytelling and interviewing skills.

NPR: BORDERLAND

Teachers can use Borderland with a whole class to introduce the targeted topics and concepts, or students can scroll through the stories on their own. A few lessons that include a guided worksheet with questions and activities would be beneficial to support student understanding of the content. The site just touches the surface of immigration, specifically as it affects the U.S.-Mexico border, and should not be an isolated activity, but rather a jumping-off point for further study.

GLOBAL ONENESS PROJECT

The culturally rich and inspiring Global Oneness Project stories fit into a wide range of content, including geography, history, anthropology, environmental science, foreign language, journalism, photography and film, and English language arts. It's clear that Global Oneness does their homework on these resources, so teachers can trust that they're introducing students to stories backed by well-developed materials.

OTHER TOOLS AND RESOURCES

NOVA

While NOVA’s documentaries provide vivid examples with beautiful images, many students use this time to take a mental timeout. This can be prevented by treating the video like you would a piece of scientific text. Provide a pre-viewing activity that gives the students a purpose for viewing and an analysis task while watching.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

A perfect companion to (or substitute for) the Academy, this site delivers highly interactive resources and research with a lot of depth. With the help of the California Academy of Sciences, teachers can design Life Science, Earth Science, Astronomy, or Physical Science lessons around current research and experiments, or use one of the site's free K-12 lesson plans or unit studies in an even wider variety of subjects.

GOOGLE EARTH

Teachers can use Google Earth as a supplement to all kinds of lessons, bringing the geography and topography of different locations to life. Students can perform searches, zoom around the Earth, study layers of weather, and study eye-level photos. It's a highly engaging and interactive way to juice up lessons, and the Google Earth Community online (accessible via one's browser) has a plethora of user groups, teaching ideas, and classroom learning resources.

GOOGLE LIT TRIPS

Students and teachers can use Google Lit Trips to explore the cultural and geographic setting of a literary work. For high school students and above, the option to create a Lit Trip and submit it to the site offers students not only opportunities for creativity and independence, but also an extra extrinsic incentive: possible publication.

ODDIZZI

Oddizzi is a great way to get kids involved in learning about geography, cultural awareness, and global responsibility. Project the map and videos for class discussions. Give kids a narrow focus to encourage them to learn about a particular topic. Use the included thought questions and quizzes to get kids thinking and assess what they've absorbed. Or, let kids explore on their own or in small groups and have them report back to the class on what they discovered.

GOOSECHASE EDU

The types of scavenger hunts you can create with GooseChase EDU are only limited by your creativity. In language arts, try a vocabulary scavenger hunt; for the word "encumbered," students could snap a picture or take a short video of themselves carrying too many things. If students are studying using evidence from text, have them snap photos that back up a certain topic sentence. In math, students can find and submit photos of different geometric shapes or their solutions to problems.

PROJECT NOAH

Project Noah is a free and easy way to take part in biodiversity research with the support of a knowledgeable and global community. Teachers can use Project Noah to engage students in hands-on scientific research that is both authentic and relevant.

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