Consider the traditional field trip of buses, lunches, chaperones and permission slips, and then try and filter it through the lens of cyberspace. In the most simplistic view, we conclude that virtual field trips allow us to conduct traditional field trips digitally. What makes technology so transforming, though, is that it compels us to look at traditional thinking and question our presumed boundaries. What I would ask you to do is take another look.

Online a field trip does not have to be just a visit to a physical location beyond our own physical space. Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) can take us inside a plant cell, along a body system, across constellations and through time Consider the Volcano World Virtual Field Trips at http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/kids/vrtrips.html!). Once preconceived assumptions are set aside, virtual field trips redefine the limits of our physical classroom and our traditional concepts of teaching and learning.

Remember that there are now two issues left for this volume of the Innovative Teaching Newsletter, with the final issue coming out on June 16th. Summer is almost here! Thanks to Jerry Blumengarten and Gina Otto (see her site at http://ginaotto.com/Virtual%20Fieldtrips.html)for their recommendations! For more VFTs check out the Surfaquarium listings (including recommendations for designing successful VFTs!) at http://surfaquarium.com/virtual.htm.

• Adventure Learning Foundation - http://questconnect.org/
  These free online expeditions allow you to engage your students using journal entries, photographs and data to experience such high-interest VFTs as following the gold rush to Alaska and the Yukon (2002), traveling through the original thirteen colonies with the Colonial America expedition (2003) and traveling in Marco Polo's Caravan to China (2004). Start planning now!
• CARE: Virtual Field Trips - http://www.careusa.org/features/vfts.asp
  CARE offers these dozen trips to central and south America, Africa, Asia and Europe to help world citizens understand the conditions in which people live. Each VFT is tastefully done with a strong social justice message that makes it more appropriate for secondary students. There are journal entries, photos, maps, screensavers and more available to visitors.
• G.O.A.L.S. - http://www.goals.com/Index.htm
  The Global Online Adventure Learning Site (G.O.A.L.S.) offers a myriad of online adventures around the world including real time reports of expeditions that are currently underway. There's the World Dive Quest and Mick Bird's Trans-Oceanic Rowing Expedition just to name two. There are archived journal entries, photos, maps and the opportunity to email the actual participants - and it's all free!
• Greatest Places Online - http://www.greatestplaces.org/
  Greatest Places Online offers VFTs to the Amazon, Greenland, Iguazu, Madagascar, Namib, Okavango and Tibet with movie and sound files, probing questions to explore and games and puzzles that help students bring closure to their study of each exotic place. The content may not be as deep on this site but the support activities certainly make full use of the affordances of the Internet.
• Passport to Knowledge - http://passporttoknowledge.com/main.html
  This one is a little hard on the eyes, but the substance of the content makes it very worthwhile. NASA, the NSF and the NOAA have teamed up to offer modules on environments such as the Rainforest and Antarctica. The current focus for 2002 is Life on Mars. For other science-based VFT ideas see Virtual Dissections, Labs, and Field Trips at http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/virtual.html.
• QuickTime Virtual Field Trips - http://www.uh.edu/~jbutler/anon/quick.html
  These geology-based selections you can view almost a dozen different video-based VFTs covering such unique places as Big Bend, Texas, the Flambeau/Ladysmith copper mine, a Hawaiian beach and a nice assortment of our national parks. There's also clips on fossils and other geological phenomena. The Open University link does not work.
• Snaith Primary School - http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/index.htm
  Snaith has had a great website for a while now, and their kid links to all kinds of times and places is a great find for any elementary classroom. Based in the UK, Derek Allen and crew offer all kinds of excursions into the middle ages, great cities of Europe and Asia, myths, legends and other tales, and even animals, plants and water. Each trip is written expressly for students, which helps you know you're on solid, age-appropriate ground.
• TerraQuest - http://www.terraquest.com/
  TerraQuest offers some exceptionally well-done VFTs to the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica and Yosemite National Park. These real-life excursions have been captured to share online and cover both the humanities and the sciences in their study of each location. There's video files to download, journal entries from along the way, and lots of opportunities for exploration and discovery.
• Videoconferencing Adventures - http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/adventures.html
  Here's a completely different take on VFTs. Rather than accessing remote locations, why not access remote experts who can be brought into the classroom to enrich your studies digitally? Here are listed experts in the arts, sciences and humanities with information on each area of expertise and the website, email and telephone contact information needed to set up an extraordinary experience for your students.
• Virtual Field Trips - http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/fieldtrips2.htm
  This extensive site offers VFTs by subject area (Science, Social Studies, Health) as well as by theme (Age Of Exploration, Ideals of Courtly Love and Turn of the Century). Under each category you will find a wealth of hotlinks ready to click. Unfortunately they are not annotated, so you do have to research each link for yourself to decide if its worth your time. But what a great starting point for locating possible sites!
• Virtual Field Trips Site - http://www.field-trips.org/trips.htm
  The VFT site offers some unique trips, including one on Baking Bread for upper elementary students and another on Hurricanes for secondary students. Each trip is well-structured with objectives and support materials to help guide you along through the experience. Trips come up in a framed environment to help keep students on task. My personal favorite (of course) is the Iditarod VFT!
• World Surfari - http://www.supersurf.com/
  World Surfari offers some twenty locations from around the globe for students to visit, including Greece, Peru, Sweden, Qatar and Mongolia. The current focus in on Gibraltar, which covers the history, people and society of this historic place. While much of the information is text-based, the fun and games section is much more graphically enhanced and interactive. These are great sites to visit for lots of good, solid information.

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Next Week's Topic: Oceans

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