The Problem Prices are going up, and education budgets are often getting cut. This makes taking your students out of the classroom to gain experiences more and more difficult. I grew up in a small town. We went a couple of places over the years, but nothing special. My third year of teaching I worked at a school and had the opportunity to go to Houston with a group of 90 seventh graders to visit NASA, the Moody Gardens, and several historical sites. Point being, not all schools have that luxury, and even that trip wasn’t free to the kids and so not many went…. That 90? They were part of a 7th grade class that had 500. As educators we know that financial means defines experiences, and experiences often define success.
So What do We Do? The closest we can come right now are digital field trips and the use of virtual reality. Its not a perfect solution and nowhere near as good as the real thing. But its free (assuming wifi) through the use of their cell phones, which most of them already have.
Virtual Rea-what now? Virtual reality has a couple of forms. One of them allows users to “look around” with their device camera and see information or other things superimposed on the real world. (Future episode?). But I’m talking about the other kind. One where, using the device, you look around other worlds as if you are there. In the media you will see people wearing goggles that have screens or phones inside. While that greatly enhances the experience, it certainly isn’t required to reap the benefits in your classroom. Check out the video below for some examples.
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