Virtual field trips are field trips that are conducted over the internet or through video conferencing. It enables the students to learn in a more hands-on way, without spending a fieldtrips price and without actually ever leaving the classroom. There are many ways an educator can have access and use virtual field trips as an interactive teaching tool. Here are just a few websites that a teacher could choose to use: E-field Trips at www.efieldtrips.org, Access Excellence Resource Center at www.accessexcellence.org/RC/virtual.php, and Gail Lovely’s website at www.gaillovely.com/virtualFieldTrips.htm. This was a new concept to me so I was very surprised to read at already about three hundred museums, science centers and historical sites are leading virtual field trips for many classes. I thought is was great that the lessons being taught through the virtual fieldtrips actually stemmed form the standards of the specific grade of the class on their virtual fieldtrip.
Is this type of field trip something you would want to use as a teaching tool as a future teacher? Yes. I would be very interested in taking my future students on virtual field trips. I think that it is a great idea, especially if the money just isn’t there to rent a bus and to pay for other field trip related expenses.
Do you think that all field trips should be this way? No. I love the idea of the “virtual field trip”. However, I think that an actual “on the premises” field trip is an invaluable experience. It is a wonderful atmosphere for the students to experience. The one thing the virtual field trip is missing is the bus songs on the way to the field trip. I still remember many of the songs my classmates and I sang on long bus rides to field trip locations. I don’t’ think one field trip is better then the other, but that both are necessary and useful tools and would enhance every child learning experience.
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