VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

How can we make them happen with the limitations we currently face?

There are many challenges in the educational field. Currently we are facing one of the most challenging financial crisis. Yet we still want our students to be able to receive the experiences they deserve.  We want them to be able to see the animals at the zoo. We want them to be able to go visit historical locations.  Then there are other times when we need to visit things that are not possible because of location or ability. Some of my students would love to visit China but distance and plane tickets are an issue. Also taking a trip inside the body is impossible but some of the kids would love to travel inside a human body like in the Magic School Bus stories.  These are all possible now because of the wonderful technology we have. We are able to create field trips and visit virtual field trips that have already been made. Of course we always have YouTube and all the other media people put out there in media format. There are plenty of places that also have specialized areas just for virtual field trips. The next pieces of information are to help anyone who is interested in creating a field trip or using resources that are already made for a virtual field trip.

Google Earth Field Trips and Geography

You can go to this link to download Google Earth and go on a field trip or create one to various places.

http://www.google.com/earth/index.html 

Watch the video below to get you started on how to use Google Earth.

Human Body Virtual Tour

Interactive Body

This site is amazing! It gives you a virtual tour of the human body. It goes into details of organs and various areas of the body. It is almost like taking a field trip inside of the body!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml

Here is a sample of their website.

		Organs Game Plumb together your organs in the 3D jigsaw puzzle. This challenge requires Flash 5 and takes 5-10 minutes.
		Muscles Game Put the mystery muscles into the right places on the body. This challenge requires Flash 5 and takes 5-10 minutes.
		Skeleton Game Get the joints and unusual bones in the right places. This challenge requires Flash 5 and takes 5-10 minutes.
		Senses Challenge Put your senses to the test and try not to let your brain be fooled. This challenge has 20 questions, requires Flash 5 and takes 10 minutes.
		Nervous System Game Wire up the nervous system and senses. This challenge requires Flash 5 and takes 5-10 minutes.
		Puberty Demo Discover the changes that take place during puberty and understand the science. Requires Flash 5.

Zygote Body

You can go on here and check some of these items out. These are expensive virtual models that can be bought for demonstrations. They are amazing details and would be extremely useful in a any biology/science class.

http://www.3dscience.com/3D_Models/Human_Anatomy/index.php



List of Virtual Tours

This article has a list of over 100 websites that do different types of virtual field trips.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-incredible-educational-virtual-tours-you-dont-want-to-miss/



MEET ME AT THE CORNER

This website has great group of videos that is kid friendly and provides great educational resources. You can also make a virtual field trip and post it yourself as well.

This is one of the videos they have that was posted on YouTube. There are many videos that are not posted on YouTube that are on their website. They have directions on how to create a virtual field trip. They also have activities that accompany each virtual field trip.

http://www.meetmeatthecorner.org/

Virtual Tours of Famous Places

Grand Canyon http://www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute/virtualtour.asp

White House http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/history/whtour/360index.html

Taj Majal http://www.taj-mahal.net/blackLarge.htm

References

100 Incredible & Educational Virtual Tours You Don’t Want to Miss | Online Universities. (n.d.).Online Universities. Retrieved from

     http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-incredible- educational-virtual-tours-you-dont-want-to-miss/

360 Degree White House Tour. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://georgewbush- whitehouse.archives.gov/history/whtour/360index.html

3D Anatomy: 3D Models of the Human Anatomy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.3dscience.com/3D_Models/Human_Anatomy/index.php

BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Interactive Body. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml

Educational Videos MEET ME AT THE CORNER. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.meetmeatthecorner.org/

Explore the Taj Mahal virtual tour - “5-STARS!” -SundayTimes_London. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.taj-mahal.net/blackLarge.htm

Google Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

Grand Canyon. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute/virtualtour.asp

How To Use Google Earth. (n.d.).YouTube. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2qnx7oN33s

NEW YORK HALL OF SCIENCE: Everyday Physics. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=FeIGTpIDChs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.wordle.net/