Virtual Field Trips

Virtual field trips have become very popular within the last few years. Virtual field trips are ways to take students to another place without having to leave the classroom. It is known as a great way to go “beyond classroom walls.” Virtual field trips benefit students because they can see places and things that they would not be able to see through a traditional field trip such as the Coral Reef, The Galapagos Islands, rainforest jungles, and other continents. Virtual Field Trips benefit parents because parents do not have to chaperone or pay money for their children to go. Virtual Field Trips benefit teachers because they do not have to worry about checking attendance every few minutes, collecting permission slips, collecting chaperone forms, and collecting money. I would want to use virtual field trips in my classroom so that my students can explore the world around them while also using technology. It would probably also go smoother than a traditional field trip because all students would be seated in the classroom. However, I do believe that some students need to physically touch, smell, and hear things to understand them better, therefore, I would still want to take my students on traditional field trips as well. The only disadvantage that I can see with a virtual field trip would be if the students did not know much about operating technology. This would hinder their learning experience while on the virtual field trip because that is the whole purpose of the virtual field trip – to use technology. I can see teachers using virtual field trips when introducing a new topic or a topic that the students do not know much about. Teachers can use the following apps for virtual field trips in their classroom: Sphere, National Parks by National Geographic, The Life of Art, NASA Earth Now, Creatures of Light, and The Congressional Record.