Mouse Click Field Trips
from your Computer
Field Trips… Ah, the memories of the sixth grade class bus trip to the museum and seeing an Egyptian mummy … the trip to the capitol building … peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches, or was it bologna and cheese? …Writing a report about what I learned…What did I learn? Where did you get to go on school field trips? Now that you are a teacher, can you still go on field trips?
Do you want to take your class on a field trip, but you are too far away to make it practical? You want your students to see the Smithsonian Institution, but your class is in Boise? Do you have a few students who would really benefit from visiting some world-class art museums? Would your Bible class come alive if they could see the places mentioned in class? Do you have some promising "scientists" who would enjoy the opportunity of exploring a science and industry museum?
Perhaps, a field trip would just take up too much class time with all the subject matter you have yet to cover. Still, a field trip would really spice up that lesson plan. Even if you had the time for a field trip, most of us are limited to one or two field trips for the school year because of financial constraints.
Why not do what some of your e-colleagues (teachers using the Internet) are beginning to do in their classrooms? They are taking their classes on electronic field trips on the Internet. The Internet is truly transforming education. In the connected classroom, you can now experience the reality of "being there." The Internet delivers the sights, sounds, texts, graphics, and even live video shots of places all over the world right into your classroom.
Mouse Click Field Trips from your Computer will let you go to places you never got to see in school. You don’t need a passport, though you may want to have your students design an "official online passport" for their field trips. After all, you will most likely be crossing international borders!
Getting Started
You will need to have access to a computer (Macintosh or IBM) that has a world wide web browser installed. The two most popular browsers are Netscape™ and Internet Explorer™. You will want a high speed modem (28.8 kbd) because some websites have wonderful graphics, but they take lots of online time to download. Obviously, you will need a telephone line, but be sure that no one else can pick up that line when you are connected on your "field trip."
Where to Go?
Virtual Tours of Museums, Exhibits and Areas of Special Interest present over 150 Museums, Exhibits, Areas of Special Interest and Real-Time journeys which offer online multimedia guided tours on the Web. Most of the links offer text and pictures, others in addition transmit sound and an occasional movie.
Virtual Sites Homepage a Web Surfer's Guide of over 200 pages pointing towards 5,000 Selected sites.
Virtual Reference Sites contains over 2,000 of the most popular information reference locations and tools on the Web. The tools include Calculators, Dictionaries, Directories, Facts, Zip Codes, Maps, Books, Languages, Calendars, Sports, Jobs, Weather, Music, Autos, Travel, Populations, Events, White & Yellow Pages, Health, Humor, - plus many more helpful tools to assist you.
The Virtual Field Trips Site Your class will enjoy taking field trips at this award-winning website!
Copyright © 2002 Dennis W. Mills, Ph.D.
This publication may be reprinted in any format without expressed written permission, but
notification is appreciated. mailto:millsd@citlink.net
This page was last updated on: December 30, 2001