{"id":1867,"date":"2010-01-26T13:42:12","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T20:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ilearntechnology.com\/?p=1867"},"modified":"2010-01-26T13:42:12","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T20:42:12","slug":"5-of-the-best-virtual-field-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/?p=1867","title":{"rendered":"5 of the BEST Virtual Field Trips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com<\/a> (Posted at The Apple.com)
\nField trips can be amazing learning experiences.\u00a0\u00a0 They provide students with the opportunity to actively participate in education, offering learning possibilities that aren\u2019t readily available in the classroom.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it isn\u2019t always practical or possible to take students on field trips.\u00a0 Tight budgets, location, transportation, time, and resource restrictions can keep your students school-bound.\u00a0 Virtual field trips can fill this void.\u00a0 Virtual field trips have come a long way from the page of links they used to be.\u00a0 Now students can explore the world with simulations that are so realistic, they will believe they have left the classroom.\u00a0 Below are five of the best virtual field trips on the web:<\/p>\n

Virtual Field Trip #1: <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Smithsonian Museum <\/a>
\nNot all cities have access to an incredible natural history museum like the Smithsonian.\u00a0 This virtual tour is the next best thing to taking an actual field trip to the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n

The Smithsonian Virtual Museum is truly remarkable.\u00a0 Students can \u2018step\u2019 into the exhibits and take a tour through the entire museum in a 360 degree environment.\u00a0 The virtual museum is made up of panoramic pictures of the actual exhibits inside the Smithsonian.\u00a0 Using their mouse, students \u201cwalk\u201d through the museum room by room. They can zoom in, look left and right, look up and down, and walk forward or backward.\u00a0 Camera icons throughout the museum show students hot spots where they can get close to an exhibit panel.\u00a0 As students explore the museum, they will see: the ocean hall, ancient seas, dinosaurs, early life, fossils, plants, mammals, African cultures, the Ice Age, Western cultures, reptiles, insects, butterflies, bones, geology, gems, and minerals.<\/p>\n

Students can explore the various exhibits on individual computers in a computer lab setting or life size with an interactive whiteboard or a projector.\u00a0 Split your students into groups and assign them an exhibit to explore and take notes on.\u00a0 After students have explored and become the \u2018expert\u2019 on their exhibit, project the Virtual Smithsonian Museum on an interactive whiteboard\/screen.\u00a0 Explore the museum as a class. As you enter an exhibit, invite the group who explored the exhibit to act as tour guides.<\/p>\n

Even if you have access to a natural history museum for field trips, the Smithsonian Virtual Museum is still incredibly useful.\u00a0 Prepare for a field trip to your local history museum by visiting the virtual museum.\u00a0 After the field trip, students can compare and contrast what they saw at the local museum with the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n

Virtual Field Trip #2:<\/h2>\n

UPM Forest Life<\/a>
\nA field trip to a forest is a wonderful way to learn about tree species, ecosystems, habitats, and animals.\u00a0\u00a0 The UPM Forest Life virtual field trip will have your students believing that they are actually in a forest smelling pine trees.
\nUPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest sustainability.\u00a0 It does this by inviting students to take a virtual hike through a forest.\u00a0 The forest is made up of panoramic pictures of an actual forest.\u00a0 Students can zoom in, look up and down, left and right, and \u2018walk\u2019 through the forest with their mouse.\u00a0 Students start their field trip with a virtual tour guide.\u00a0 As students \u2018hike\u2019 through the forest, they will click on hot spots that reveal videos of forest life, pictures with information, and sounds.\u00a0 Throughout the forest are opportunities for learning about forest planning, harvesting, regeneration, re-spacing, thinning, transport, recreation, training, berry picking, bird watching, hunting, fishing, natural forests, valuable habitats, deadwood, forest structure, water, native tree species, and the various animals that call a forest home.\u00a0\u00a0 This virtual field trip is impressive on individual computers and amazing when viewed as a whole class on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector.\u00a0 Allow students to take turns acting as forest rangers. They can click on various videos, pictures, and information embedded in the forest.\u00a0 Students can record their observations of the forest, trees, animals, and sounds they experience in an observation journal.<\/p>\n

Virtual Field Trip #3:<\/h2>\n

Moon in Google Earth<\/a>
\nThe moon is no longer off limits for field trips!\u00a0 Students can visit the moon virtually using Moon view in Google Earth.\u00a0 Google Earth makes for excellent virtual trips around the world; in Google Earth 5.0 you can also take your students to the moon.
\nMoon in Google Earth makes it possible for students to take tours of Apollo missions to the moon, from takeoff to landing \u2013 all narrated by Apollo astronauts.\u00a0 Students can explore 3-D models of landed spacecraft, zoom into 360-degree photos of astronaut footprints on the moon, watch rare TV footage of the Apollo missions, and, of course, explore the surface of the moon.\u00a0\u00a0 Take your virtual field trip to the moon as a class with an interactive whiteboard\/projector, or send students on their own mission to the moon using student computers.\u00a0 Assign groups of students to an Apollo mission to explore.\u00a0 When the \u2018astronauts\u2019 return to earth, they can tell other students about their mission to the moon or write a newspaper article about their journey.<\/p>\n

Virtual Field Trip #4:<\/h2>\n

Planet in Action <\/a>
\nReal field trips don\u2019t allow for adventures like a helicopter ride above the Grand Canyon, an expedition to Mount St. Helens, or a helicopter tour of Manhattan or Disneyland Paris.\u00a0 Planet in Action makes all of these possible with the help of Google Earth.
\nPlanet in Action is an outstanding way to bring learning to life.\u00a0 Students can take a guided tour of the Grand Canyon, Mount St. Helens, Manhattan, or Disneyland Paris or take control and explore on their own.\u00a0 These journeys are incredibly lifelike on an interactive whiteboard\/projector.\u00a0 Take your whole class on a virtual helicopter ride above famous landmarks that they are learning about in class.\u00a0 First, watch the recorded tour and discuss the different landmarks as you see them.\u00a0 Then \u2018hire\u2019 a student helicopter \u2018pilot\u2019 who can navigate a trip for the class.\u00a0 On individual computers, students can create postcards of their virtual field trip or create their own virtual tour that can be saved and shared with others or with Planet in Action.\u00a0 As students fly above the landmarks, a Google Map will show them exactly where they are in the virtual tour.<\/p>\n

Virtual Field Trip #5:<\/h2>\n

AR Sights <\/a>
\nMost students probably won\u2019t have the ability to travel to the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower for a field trip.
\nAugmented Reality makes it possible to see these landmarks, and more, using Google Earth in 3-D.
\nAugmented Reality requires a webcam, browser add-on, and a printout provided by the AR Sights website.
\nAfter a simple graphic is printed out, it is held up to a webcam.\u00a0 Students will see a landmark spring to life right before their eyes on the computer screen.\u00a0 As the printout is tilted, twisted, and moved the landmark moves accordingly.\u00a0 Students can view the famous landmark in 360-degrees, 3-D, and up close.\u00a0 It is truly incredible!
\nAR Sights makes it possible to view Google Earth right in a web browser and then zoom into places of interest, looking at them in 3-D with Augmented Reality.\u00a0 Students can \u2018fly\u2019 around Google Earth, when they find a place of interest, they will hold the printout up to the camera and explore the landmark.\u00a0 This is an amazing visual method for learning about geography and famous landmarks.\u00a0 If you only have access to one webcam, use it with a computer connected to a projector or interactive whiteboard for whole class exploration.<\/p>\n

Geography, budget, and time are no longer field trip restrictions.\u00a0 With virtual field trips, students can explore the universe using a computer.\u00a0 These simulations are so realistic that your students will believe they have traveled the universe, actively participating in their learning.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com (Posted at The Apple.com) Field trips can be amazing learning experiences.\u00a0\u00a0 They provide students with the opportunity to actively participate in education, offering learning possibilities that aren\u2019t readily available in the classroom.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it isn\u2019t always practical or possible to take students on field trips.\u00a0 Tight budgets, location, transportation, time, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,442,197,7,12,8,50,6],"tags":[1329,1327,347,1314,2026,467,1642,1654,1585,4711],"class_list":["post-1867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geography","category-interactive-whiteboard","category-middlehigh-school","category-primary-elementary","category-science","category-secondary-elementary","category-virtual-field-trips","category-websites","tag-ar","tag-ar-sights","tag-article","tag-augmented-reality","tag-google-earth-upm-forest-life","tag-moon","tag-planet-in-action","tag-smithsonian","tag-the-apple","tag-virtual-field-trips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1867"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1869,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867\/revisions\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}