Imagine taking your students to Africa to view an eclipse. Or joining scientists in the field on a dinosaur dig. Or traveling to the studios where great artists worked. And imagine doing all of this without leaving the classroom!

We have put together a curated set of the best museums but before you launch take into account these helpful recommendations from the Professional Learning Board:

Step 1: Conduct Research

Researching the right virtual field trip to match a lesson plan is the foundational step in making an effective virtual tour. Teachers should look out for creative, accessible and engaging virtual trips to enhance lesson plans.

Step 2: Lesson Plan

Every virtual field trip needs to be relevant to a specific lesson or topic. Teachers need to have clear learning objectives in order to ensure that the virtual field trip aids in reaching those goals. Does this virtual field trip add to the lesson? Will this virtual field trip spark students’ inquiry behavior?

Step 3: Design Assessments

For virtual field trips, teachers need to design assessment modules to evaluate what their students have learned from the project.

1. Pre-trip: Teachers should introduce the topic that will be covered in the trip and then ask the students to reflect on what they already know about this topic.

2. During-the-trip: Teachers can observe students while they are on their virtual field trip. This observation will help teachers assess whether students are following directions and if the virtual field trip had the impact they had envisioned for all the students.

3. Post-trip: Teachers can ask students to get into groups and discuss a set of questions, have everyone share their personal experience with the class or give a home assignment to write about the experience.

Step 4: Secure Permission

Teachers should keep the principal and parents in the loop about where the teacher is “taking” the students even within the classroom. Keeping parents informed can also inspire families to take virtual field trips of their own and enhance learning outside of the classroom as well.

Bon voyage!