RSA: virtual field trips

Virtual Field Trips

Bringing "out there" into the classroom

        Field trips are an excellent opportunity for students to learn in a unique environment. Students are able to completely immerse themselves in their environment, using the sights and sounds to build on what they have learned in the classroom. Shrinking school budgets could spell an end to these wonderful learning opportunities for our students, but it doesn't have to. Meyer (2016) explains that virtual field trips allow students to visit far away places and interact with experts in real time without ever leaving the classroom.
        Discovery Education offers virtual field trip packages such as a look at president Lincoln's assassination, exploring the Holocaust through a trip to Auschwitz, or a trip under the ocean. Each of these virtual field trips also includes prepared materials and classroom activities. Another option for virtual field trips is provided through Google Expeditions. This is a more affordable option that still provides 3D field trips using cardboard headsets powered by a smartphone. Another manufacturer of virtual field trip experiences is NASA with their NASA's Eyes computer simulations which provide students with a field trip experience that would otherwise be completely out of their reach. The last option that the article addressed is to construct your own virtual field trip. Although this option would be the most labor intensive for teachers, it would also allow teachers to truly connect the virtual field trip experience with their district's curriculum, their classroom activities, and even to the individual students.

        I have been at the same school for eight years which has given me a unique view of how much our school and district have changed. For the first seven years, each class was provided with a budget that permitted two field trips. With shrinking budgets and increased cost of the field trips, we were only allowed to go on one field trip last year and we have the same budget for this year. The more I learn about virtual field trips, the more I think this may be a feasible option for schools in the future. I will be the first to support the importance of providing our students with field trip experiences. Nothing can take the place of supporting what has been taught in class with a field trip. My students love their animal unit and are completely engaged with every lesson I can throw their way. However, the real learning comes only after our field trip to the zoo. Seeing the animals move, developing an understanding of their true size, and getting to hear the animals provides my first graders with a depth of knowledge that I could never provide in the classroom. Upon return, each of my students can talk at length and in-depth about the characteristics of animals from each kingdom and provide support by accessing their personal experiences. The experience is truly powerful for them. However, from a first grade teacher's perspective, field trips are the absolute worst (second only to parent-teacher conferences). The stress of keeping track of 28 first graders (and some of their parents), organizing the trip, the bone-jarring bus ride, the cost, and so many other factors literally keep me up for several nights leading up to the trip.
        On the other hand, the cost of a set of virtual reality goggles and the equipment that goes along with it costs around $10,000! Yikes! I can't imagine trying to get that purchase past a school board or budget committee...Unless you take into the account that it's $500-$1,000 just for the cost of transportation and admission for a class of 30 students. You could also make the argument that the students safety is not a factor when it comes to virtual field trips as it is on a traditional field trip. Students not only get to fully immerse themselves in their virtual trips, but they can also visit places that are completely impossible to reach on a traditional field trip such as places on the other side of the Earth, inside the human body, or a journey into the farthest reaches of our solar system. I, for one, wouldn't mind it a bit if I never had to take another hour long, ear-splitting, headache-causing, spine-shrinking bus ride.

In closing, consider this...we have 11 first grade classes in our district. If it costs around $500 for each field trip we take (and that's a low estimate) and each class takes two field trips, it costs about $11,000 for our field trips each year. A Google Excursions kit of 30 sets of goggles, a teacher tablet, charging station, and subscription costs just under $10,000.

Meyer, L. (2016). Students explore the Earth and beyond with virtual field trips. T H E Journal, 43(3), 22-25.