Take Your Students 'Virtually' Anywhere
Traditional field trips provide rich learning experiences for students but are often cost prohibitive. Virtual trips allow students to explore and learn without the expense of traveling outside of the building.
Learning Targets:
CURATE a variety of virtual field trip resources
Learn to CUSTOMIZE to meet content standards and ability level
Learn about tools to CREATE your own virtual trip
Icebreaker (in Nearpod)
Think about a field trip experience you had either as a teacher or a child.
What challenges did you have?
What were some of the most memorable parts?
What would you have done differently?
Curate
Exploration Considerations
For what purpose would you take your students on this trip?
How will you address the technology aspect of a virtual trip?
How will students be held accountable for learning?
What type of permission, if any, will be necessary before the trip?
The Aquarium in Chattanooga Tennessee (Thinglink)
Explore the Tennessee Aquarium located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Images, information, and videos are from TNaqua.org.
A Dairy Farm Experience (Minecraft Education Edition)
Minecraft Education Edition has many virtual field trip-style worlds from which to choose. A Day On The Farm takes students through many aspects of a dairy farm and includes activities along the way to make the experience even more engaging. Navigating the world is simple enough that even novice users can be successful. To get started, click the image to the right and log into Minecraft.
Helpful tips:
Make sure Minecraft is installed on all student devices.
A mouse and headphones are recommended.
Identify Minecraft experts in the room who will help students if they struggle with navigating the world.
Make sure students know their username and password.
Egypt from the Nile River (Nearpod)
Navigating a Nearpod Virtual Tour
Select 'Join as a Guest'
Enter a name in the first box
Select 'Join'
Use the blue arrows to navigate through the trip.
Headphones may be worn to avoid disturbing others during video portions of the trip.
Collaboration boards are open and not monitored. Please keep all posts respectful and appropriate for all audiences.
This Nearpod is open until 11/21/2023
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC (Google Arts & Culture)
Navigating the Google Arts & Culture Tours
Touchscreen users can use their fingers on the screen to navigate and zoom.
Mobile device users can enter virtual mode by tapping the phone icon on the screen. This enables a more interactive experience as viewers can navigate the museum by moving their phones instead of pinching and dragging on the screen.
Mouse users can navigate using arrows on the keyboard, movement overlays on the image, or thumbnails along the bottom of the screen.
The site can be shared using a link, QR code, or directly to Google Classroom.
The White House in Washington DC (Google Arts & Culture)
This is another tour that can be found at Google Arts & Culture. Navigating is a little less dynamic than the Smithsonian tour linked above. However, students can travel through parts of the White House and see the extensive collection of art that includes many presidential portraits and busts.
The Google Arts and Culture Collections landing page can be viewed in three different ways. Browse all of the Thumbnails, or sort into alphabetical order, or view by location by selecting the Map option as shown in the image.
Keep the age level of students and district policy in mind when making selections. If your district would not approve a real visit to the location, a virtual visit is out as well. If unsure, check with administration before using a virtual tour.
Amazon has created a wonderful resource that combines videos of Amazon employees and online activities that give students a tour experience of the Amazon fulfillment center in New Jersey. They even include a teacher toolkit to help you get started.
Click on the image to visit the site with all of the resources.
Click on the title to go straight to the YouTube playlist that goes along with the tour.
Nearpod Virtual Tour of the South West
This virtual tour takes students across the Southwestern area of the United States. It includes virtual activities and videos.
Click on the image to add your own copy of this tour to your Nearpod library.
Once you get your own copy, you can edit it anyway you want.
Customize
Educators always customize a field trip to meet the needs of their students. Consider how the trips shown above could be customized to fit into many content areas and grade levels. Use the Jamboard linked below to share your ideas with the group.
Share Customization Ideas in Jamboard
Click the image to open Jamboard in a new tab.
Navigate between the four pages to find the one you want to add a customization idea. (Navigation area circled in red at top of image.)
Use the post-it note icon to add your idea. Be sure to include the grade level and content area. (Circled in red on the left side of image.)
Bookmark the page to refer back to it for ideas.
Virtual Field Trip Creation Tools
There are many tools that support the creation of a virtual field trip. Four tools that were featured today are listed below. Explore these tools to determine which is the best fit for your students.
Nearpod
Pros of Using Nearpod for Virtual Trips
Can be shared a variety of ways
Teacher-led or student-paced
Collect data and grade instantly
Variety of slide types
Built-in 360 library
Cons of Using Nearpod for Virtual Trips
The free version has minimal storage space
A touchscreen is helpful for some features
Cannot edit 360 images (Hot Spots)
Pros of Using Thinglink for Virtual Trips
Has a built-in 360-image library
Has a variety of tag options
Can be shared in many ways
Robust Learning Center for beginning users
Cons of Using Thinglink for Virtual Trips
The free version allows a minimal number of views
First-time creators may struggle with the interface
Google Arts and Culture
Pros of Using Google Arts and Culture for Virtual Trips
Has a built-in 360-image library
Has a variety of tours from around the world
No sign-in required
Free
Cons of Using Google Arts and Culture for Virtual Trips
Some locations may have content that is not appropriate for younger students
No way to embed activities
Can only be shared with a link
Minecraft Education Edition
Pros of Using Minecraft Education Edition for Virtual Trips
Can be customized
Variety of ways to share, including Google Classroom
Instant buy-in from students because its Minecraft
Can be teacher-led or independent
Cons of Using Minecraft Education Edition for Virtual Trips
The interface can be intimidating at first
Requires login
Mouse & headphones are recommended
Requires Minecraft Education Edition download to use