Virtual+ToursFieldtrips

media type="custom" key="504517" toc =Virtual Tours/Fieldtrips/Web Hunts Overview=

Virtual Tours, online Fieldtrips and Web Hunts encompass a wide range of online learning experiences for students. They might include providing students with a series of links to various websites that are tied to a particular content area or creating a more detailed virtual tour of a geographical or physical location. Tours and fieldtrips such as this provide students with the chance to visit, explore and learn about places they may not otherwise be able to access.

**Uses of Virtual Tours/Fieldtrips/Web Hunts in Education**
It may be easier to understand the uses of these types of tours and projects by looking at the various examples provided on the lesson plan page. On that page you will see a variety of tours created by teachers to be used with their students and suggestions on how to provide students with the chance to create their own tours as a way to demonstrate comprehension and understanding of specific material. One idea that immediately comes to mind is to have students create a virtual tour of a state, country or region rather than a more traditional written report. Students could also create a tour to represent different settings for a historical event such as the Civil War or create a tour to show the primary locations and settings of a book they are reading.

Educational Benefits of Virtual Tours/Fieldtrips/Web Hunts
One of the primary benefits of using virtual tours and fieldtrips is that it allows students to have an authentic online learning experience that can be controlled by the teacher. This gives students practice working and learning in an online environment and allows the teacher to present material and content by using images, text, video and other modes of representation that are appealing to the digital learners of today.

Specific Ideas for using Virtual Tours/Fieldtrips/Web Hunts in a k-12 Setting
Click here to add or view a lesson plan or idea for using this technology in the classroom.

**Relevant Online Tools for Creating Tours/Fieldtrips/Hunts**

 * [|Trailfire] allows you to create a trail through a series of "Marks" or websites so that you can lead your students through a specific set of sites for a particular purpose. You are also able to include comments on each website so that you can provide instructions, suggestions or guidelines for students and if they have [|Trailfire] accounts they can respond with their own comments.
 * [|TrackStar] also allows you to create a trail or track through a series of websites. You can leave comments on each site in the trail and this tool was created more specifically for k12 students and teachers so they review the content of the sites that you include in your trail providing an extra layer of security for students.
 * [|Jog the Web] is another tool where you can connect a series of websites in a slideshow type demonstration with text comments on each site.
 * [|MapWing] allows you to create virtual tours with images, interactive maps and much more. You can provide comments to give students directions and information through the tour as well as hyperlinks to outside sources of information.
 * [|TerraClues] provides an opportunity for you to create a set of clues or questions that your students have to answer by finding the correct geographic location. You get to assign a location to the answer of each clue (i.e. This is where the President of the United States lives. Answer/location: White House) and students can then see a map or satellite view of the location once they find it. They are also able to do a Google search in order to help answer the clue or question.
 * [|Google Earth] makes it possible to "visit" a variety of different locations around the world and at least view those locations from a birds-eye perspective. You can also create an interactive map by using the [|Picasa Web] album tool that interfaces with [|Google Maps].
 * [|Mapness] lets you create an online travel journal where you can plot the different points along a particular route or trip and then add photos, video and text-based descriptions/comments along those different points.

**Online Tours/Fieldtrips/Hunts**
The following links provide access to a variety of online tours and fieldtrips that you may find useful in your classroom. The fieldtrips and tours included in this list have not been checked for accuracy. In addition, you will find that some tours and trips are more interactive and make better use of the electronic medium of the Internet than others.
 * [|Virtual Tours of National Parks]
 * [|Interactive Tour of Colonial Williamsburg]
 * [|Virtual Tour of the Solar System]
 * [|Virtual Space Tour]
 * [|Historical Tour of the White House]
 * [|Oregon Trail Virtual Tour]
 * [|Virtual Fieldtrips by Content Area]
 * [|Virtual Fieldtrips/Tours Collection]

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