Post on 27-Mar-2015
Virtual Field Trips
Linda L. MillsLibrary Media Specialist
Greensburg Elementary SchoolGreensburg, IN
lmills@venus.nethttp://www.greensburg.k12.in.us/ges/Library/index.htm
What are Virtual Field Trips?
Virtual Field Trips are explorations through the Web, typically an organized set of links with a particular theme.
Virtual Field Trips vs Real Field Trips--Similarities
Both are group activities in which kids interact with each other
Both involve active rather than passive learning
Both take the students out of the classroom mentally and into a different learning environment
Virtual Field Trips vs Real Field Trips--Differences VFT can be repeated over and over Don’t need a bus Free up teacher’s time from scheduling Students can move at their own pace and
depth Students can go places that they could not go
on a bus Lack the sensory experience of real Are safe and free from hazards Can tap into more expert resources on a single
topic
Benefits of Virtual Field Trip Organize the chaos of the web into units Make efficient use of class time Can be pre-screened Can be individualized for student learning Stimulates imagination and exploration Save teachers hours of research time Are less expensive Are not weather dependent Can be shared globally Take you to locations that are always ‘open’
Using Virtual Field Trips—Questions to Consider
How many students will be going on this trip?
One computer per student Groups of students on several
computers One computer per classroom/use
with SmartBoard
Using Virtual Field Trips—Questions to Consider
Does it fit your standards? If you are using a pre-made field
trip, check it out to make sure it fits
If you are making your own, you can tailor it to fit your standards
Indiana standards link: http://www.doe.state.in.us/asap/welcome.html
Using Virtual Field Trips—Questions to Consider
How do you verify the integrity of the material you are using?
Make sure the content is accurate Make sure the author is an expert Make sure the information is current Make sure the information is
relevant to what you want to learn
Web Site Addresses of trips Titantic
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourFames.cgi?tour_id=14438
The Globe Theatre http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourFames.cgi?tour_id=13995
Simple Machines http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourFames.cgi?tour_id=13341
Web Site Addresses of trips Virtual Cave
http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html
The White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/tour/
Antarctica http://www.geophys.washington.edu/People/Students/ginny/antarctica/index.html
Portals to Virtual Field Trips The Virtual Schoolhouse
http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/trips.html Utah Department of Education
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours Yahoo http://
dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Travel/Virtual_Field_Trips/ Volcano World
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/kids/vrtrips.html The Teacher Guide
http://www.theteachersguide.com/virtualtours.html#General
An Introduction to Electronic Field Trips http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/hst/scott/intro1.html
Evaluation of Web Sites--Sources Critical Evaluation of a Web Site
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
Teaching Zach to Think http://www.anovember.com/articles/zack.html
Critical Evaluation Survey: Virtual Tours http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/evaltour.html
How do you assess the learning?
Try rubrics to assess the Ready Made Rubrics
http://www.rubric4teachers.com Rubrics Library
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/tvsearch.php?keywords=rubrics&sitesearch=1&in=tv_all
Rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
Integration of Virtual Field Trip Know your curriculum Know your standards Use trip as you would any other
learning project Use small groups Use whole class instruction for
elementary
Three Categories of TripsTrips that utilize existing web resources
and visits other web sites. Unlike a book, it invites exploration beyond the ‘cover.” when students see links, they can follow them to continue exploration into other sites.
www.field-trips.org/sci/natwon http://
teacher.scholastic.com/fieldtrp/lanarts/poetic.htm
http://can-do.com/uci/lessons98/Antarctica.html
Three Categories of Trips
The majority of the trip content is created by the trip developer. This type can be great if you’re doing a small number of trips, but are very time consuming to create.
Examples of trips www.fnal.gov/pub/about/tour http://
www.geology.ewu.edu/ftrips/aquifer/aqtour.htm
http://particleadventure.org/particleadventure/
www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en www.astro.uva.nl/demo/sun http://landslides.usgs.gov/
learningeducation/slum
Three Categories of Trips
Expeditions that have students interact with on-site explorers often in remote and/or exotic locations and extend over a period of time. Students may post questions, read daily journal entries, and have interaction between the classroom and the live site. Usually there is a fee.
www.yourexpedition.com/bae_archive/pages/fp_education.html
Virtual Field Trips with fees http://www.jasonproject.org http://www.globe.gov http://corporate.classroom.com/
Field Trip Sites www.field-trips.org www.nytimes.com/learning/student
s/explorer
Find Museums Online http://www.museumspot.com
This site will help you find any museum online. You can search for the links to the museums by specialty, geography, and other categories.
Some Sites to Visit www.nga.gov www.diarioelpais.com/muva2/# www.calacademy.org www.flight-toys.com/boomerangs.htm http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov
Index or hub sites
These sites provide collections of links that you can browse through to find other V-trips destinations. These sites differ from sites referred to as ‘portals’ because they don’t have content other than a collection of links.
http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/schoolhouse/http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/welcome.html
The Big Pocket Guide to Creating Virtual Field Trips Kim Foley http://www.field-trips.org/book/link
s/c5.htm
Tool for Creating Virtual Field Trips
www.tramline.com/tm/download.htm
This program is called TourMaker and has a FREE Trial Version here.
Making trips with TourMaker Ease of navigation Online expert guidance Story-like structure Spirit of exploration Random and sequential access Printable itinerary Printable itinerary High speed connection Multi-platform/Multi-browser compatibility
Considerations when creating
Who is your audience? What are their ages? What is your field trip topic? What criteria will you use to select the field
trip sites that you visit? (site layout, navigation, load time, age level, integrity, longevity, ads)
What is your method? Will you need to get permission to use
images and content?
Web Cams Tommy’s List of Live Cams
http://www.rt66.com/~ozone/cam.htm Live Discovery Cams
http://dsc.discovery.com/cams/cams.html
Live Cams Worldwide http://www.camscape.com/
Leonards Cam World http://www.leonardsworlds.com/camera.html
Other links to try
My web site has several hyperlink handouts with sites to use to find places to take electronic field trips http://www.greensburg.k12.in.us/ges/Library/index.htm
Other Useful Resources Collection of educational resources
explorer.hprtec.org Internet Search Tools
www.itrc.ucf.edu/iqr Thinkquest www.thinkquest.org Tapped In www.tappedin.org SafeKids.Com--Family Contract for
Online Safety www.safekids.com
Other sites to use to search KidsClick! http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/ Blue Webn’ http://
www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn Yahooligans www.yahooligans.com Discovery School http://
www.discoveryschool.com/schrockguide Ask Jeeves for Kids www.ajkids.com Awesome Library www.awesomelibrary.org Kids Search Tools http://
www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm Great Sites http://
www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/amazing.html
General reference Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Library Spot http://www.libraryspot.com Inspire http://www.inspire-Indiana.net Indiana Department of Education
http://www.doe.state.in.us Britannica Encyclopedia
http://www.britannica.com Xrefer http://www.xrefer.com Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org
Copyright www.loc.gov/copyright Hal Davidson
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/peachj/edte230/copyright/
Copyright citations http://www.whps.org/library/Copyright%20Resources.PDF
Carol Simpson
All that is left---- Think about your standards Choose a topic or topics Research your sites Put your trip together Try it out yourself Use it with your students Evaluate
Have fun!