The Benefits of Virtual Field Trips

1. The Benefits of Virtual Field Trips Presented By: Brandi Smith Amy Archer

2. What is a Virtual Field Trip? • A virtual field trip is a guided exploration through the use of technology organizes a collection of thematically-based ideas into a structured online learning experience. (Foley, 2003)

3. “Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.” -- John Keats 1800

4. Benefits to Discuss • Enhancing Gifted & Talented Programs • Enhancing Vocabulary Comprehension • Providing Real-World Experiences to Disadvantaged Students • Enhancing Content Delivery/Instruction • Cost & Time-Savings to Districts

5. Provides an outlet to bring in enriched content Provides a new stimulation to a sometimes predictable lesson Broadens their understanding of complex ideas Introduces them to a foreign language Introduces them to a foreign country Gifted & Talented Programs

6. Options to Enhance VFT • Partnership with another school across the state, U.S., or world • Global Nomad group (www.gng.org) • Add a Foreign Language ASMSA • Tour museums and places of historical significance

7. “All experience is an arch, to build on.”-Henry Brooks Adams1838

8. Content-Specific Vocabulary • Provide opportunities to introduce, enhance and master new vocabulary • Research indicates that children need more planned, but contextualized introduction and experiences in vocabulary.

9. Vocabulary Studies • Have students practice words • Build new word knowledge on previous word knowledge • Give multiple exposures to the words that include experience or real-world contact with them

10. Why so much hoopla? • There is clear evidence that vocabulary is associated with socioeconomic status--presumably reflecting differences in opportunity (as documented by Hart and Risley, 1995; and Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998).

11. Other disciplines • Music • Art • History • Language Arts • Character Education • Workforce Education Electives

12. “From the moment of his birth the customs into which an individual is born shape his experience and behavior. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture.” -Ruth Fulton Benedict, 1922

13. Advantaged vs. Disadvantaged • World View from Poverty: sees world in terms of local setting • World View from Middle Class: sees world in terms of national setting • World View from Wealth: sees world in terms of international view

14. How Can we Bridge the Gap? • Fill in gaps in background knowledge • Provide experiences for vocabulary acquisition • Bring the world to the child • Give them experiences!

15. Find experiences • NASA • “Around the World” by The Museum of Television and Radio (www.mtr.org) • Albany Institute of History & Art • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame • Collaborations with other schools • Explore career choices and talk to experts

16. Enhance Instructional Delivery • Enhance lesson planning • Includes an activity that addresses all learning styles • Integrates technology in a new and exciting way • Background knowledge

17. Instructional Delivery • Enhances understanding • Promotes mastery through experience • Many are cross-curricular • Provides public speaking skills • Provides writing opportunities

18. 9-12 Science Example • “Cephalopods: The Jet Set” from the Alaska Sea Life Center • CDL.7.B.3, CDL.7.B.21, NS.11.B.2 • Appreciate the diversity of animals in Phylum Mollusca. Understand the natural history and characteristics of Class Cephalopoda. Describe the internal and external anatomy of a squid through dissection.List 4 members of Class Cephalopoda.

19. Other 9-12 Science VFTs • “Mendel’s Peas” from Camden Children’s Garden • “Agriculture & the Good Earth” from The Center for Agricultural Science & Heritage • “Chemistry Roots” from the Louisville Science Center

20. Elementary Science VFTs • “Plants” from The Center for Puppetry Arts • LS.2.2.6, LS.2.1.4, • Identify basic plant parts, describe functions of plant parts, engage in a discussion about photosynthesis and pollination, identify fruits and vegetables as different plant parts, create a working rod puppet tied into science curriculum

21. Elementary Science Example • “Eat or Be Eaten” from the Alaska Sea Life Center • “Awesome Adaptations” from the Bronx Zoo • “The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar” from Camden Children’s Garden • “Captain Cosmic” from Challenger Learning Center • “Let it Rot: A Look at Recycling”

22. Before the Videoconference • Orient the students to the technology – let them play! • Prepare questions for the videoconference. • Have the students practice • Do all the pre-conference activities as suggested. • Invite your principal to drop in to watch the videoconference.

23. During the Videoconference • Teachers: resist the urge to talk! • Use the "mute" time to prompt students if necessary. • Set the camera so it shows the whole room. If possible for lower elementary students, have a designated question area. • Don't make the students take notes, unless the presenter is asking them to write something.

24. After the Videoconference • If any post activities have been provided by the presenter, do them with your students as a follow-up. • Have the students write about what they learned and react to/evaluate the session.

25. “Believe an expert; believe one who has had experience.” Horace 65-8 B.C. • “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. = Patrick Henry 1765 • “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1925