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!