Field Trips

Remember when you were younger, weren't field trips the number one thing you couldn't wait for in school?   Today, due to budget cutbacks, students don't get to experience all of the wondrous field trips.  Does that mean we have to take away all the wonder from the classroom?  Absolutely NOT!  Take your students on a virtual field trip.  Let them explore the wonders of a place they may never get to visit.  Bring excitement back to Social Studies and other content areas.

Are you studying geography in your classroom?  

Visit the Grand Canyon!   

http://www.nps.gov/grca/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm

Not only will your students be able to identify where the Grand Canyon is on a map, but they will get a feel for being there.  With the link above, students can get updated news about the canyon such as daily alerts that are in effect, history, culture, nature, science, a virtual raft or hike and much more.  There are even links to help teachers plan for the virtual field trip.

Teachers and students can create passports at the beginning of the year and make entries for each place visited.  Virtual field trips are not limited to places within the United States of America, travel out of the country and explore different cultures.  Create a track-star or Webquest for students to choose where they are going to travel.  Add extensions for students to describe how they would get to their destination, what would they take, why?

Field trips are great, but when they aren't possible or unachievable, travel with the resources you have.  I know that these tools would have been much more interesting for me than reading from a text!  In order for teachers to be effective facilitators we need to be able to teach students with the tools they are interested in.  For many of them, the Internet is that tool.  Take advantage of the tools you have and watch your students academic growth!