Today, teachers and students literally have a world of experiences right at their fingertips and virtual field trips have opened the door. Virtual field trips allow a student to visualize an experience first hand, whether that means exploring an ancient tomb or medieval castle, the jungles surrounding the Amazon or the geological history of the Grand Canyon. Teachers are also able to facilitate learning beyond traditional rote learning techniques by using virtual field trips, to enhance learning a laboratory experiment or about a particular ecosystem.
This type of learning is where education is headed. Virtual field trips, like other visual/audio aids allow the students to learn abstractly and are very successful, especially when concrete, participatory activities have preceded. (1) These trips “outside” of the classroom allow a student to see and experience visually, an idea or concept that has been addresses during typical classroom time and it also helps the student to relate personally to an experience. Students are not just sitting through a lecture and reading a text. They are actually seeing and hearing about the ancient ruins of the Roman Empire or a particular science experiment. The students feel like they are walking past the Roman Forum or that, they are facilitating the maturation of an egg in the lab. Not only is this type of learning experience a great way to take a break from tests and lectures, but it also allows a student to make an experience their own.
On a practical note, visual field trips can also achieve the impossible. Is every class able to visit Rome or a state of the art lab? Visual fields trips allow teachers to give their students the best of an experience that may otherwise be impossible due to budget constraints and or plain distance.
The only thing I came across in my research that could be an obstacle in using visual field trips is that it is expensive to make your own. Still, there are thousands (my Google search produced, 1,940,000 hits for visual field trips) websites that offer free visual trips to be used in the classroom.
From what I read, visual field trips seem like a great way to enhance the learning experience in any classroom. Children today, are not learning in the same ways we did in the past and their lives are full of visually stimulating experiences. Why not make education just as stimulating? Otherwise, how can educators compete? Of course an actual field trip is a great experience for students, but even a small break in the day, to do a visual field trip, can provide them with the type of learning that could intrigue them for the rest of their lives.
For further information, check out these websites:
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/666
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/
http://www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic35.htm
http://www.fieldtripearth.org/strategy.xml?id=14
1. Smaldino, Sharon, E., Deborah L. Lowther, James D. Russell. Instructional Technology and Media for Learning. (Ohio: Pearson, 2008). 9.
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I wish I would have thought to add a few more of the sites I found for virtual field trips! I agree with you that kids learn completely differently than they did in the past. Visually stimulation is all over the place in their games, tv, and just about all of thier entertainment. How could we not upgrade and reinvent the way they are educated?!
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoyed reading your blog. You gave a good mix of sites to reference to. My only concern was that the children that are only exposed to VFT do lose out on the direct field trip experience. I always looked forward to field trip days, leaving the class and going to explore a new location. But you made a few points where you said that these visual trips help stimulate the classroom experience and allow chilcren to experiece places that they normally could not. Good job.
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