There are many occasions when it would be brilliant to whisk your class away to see the tortoises on the Galapagos islands, or to dive the Great Barrier Reef. But sadly that’s not going to be possible. But using technology you can take them on a virtual field trip, travelling to other places without actually leaving the classroom. Your interactive whiteboard or screen can become a window on the world, letting children view far away places.

There are many occasions where a trip is not possible; time, cost and safety being the main three, and so a virtual trip can at least go some way to letting the children experience what these places look like. A virtual field trip is more than just a slideshow of images. They may include 360^o photos and videos that let you move the viewpoint around and look in different directions. They may contain linked images so you feel as if you are moving around the space, and they may also include hotspots – clickable spots that will open up more information, as text, audio or video.

Streetview

One of the easiest ways to do this is with Google Maps and Google Street View. Google has extensively covered most of the world with both satellite imagery and 360^o cameras, first on cars and more recently in the backpacks of hikers.  Google Street View can give you the sense of standing in the middle of the street, with a full 360^o view of the area around you.

Zoom in on an area in Google Maps and then drag the icon of the yellow person from the corner of the map and it will highlight in blue where you can zoom into street view – drop the person on the map to zoom in.

Using Street View the children could explore different habitats. They could stand next to a field in Spain and compare what they see to standing next to a field in Yorkshire. What kind of habitats can they see?

If you wanted to take the class on a materials walk, and the area around your school isn’t the most inspiring then you could go on a trip around a school in a different town, or a different country and compare it your own local area.

As well as regular streets, Google has also taken their Street View cameras off-road, into places such as the domes of The Eden Project, into Zoos like London and Chester and even inside museums like the Science Museum in London.

This could be used instead of a trip, but sometimes it could even be used to prepare for a trip you are going on or to reinforce a trip you have actually been on.

It’s also possible to go on curated tours, set up by others. Google Treks lets you explore places such as the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, The Amazon Basin and The Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Access Mars lets you use actual footage of Mars taken by the Curiosity rover to explore the surface of Mars.

Try these:

Google Earth Tours: https://www.google.com/earth/about/gallery/

Google Treks: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/about/treks

Natural History Museum London: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/natural-history-museum

Science Museum London: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/virtual-tour-science-museum

Smithsonian Museum Tour: https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/

Google Arts and Culture Places: https://artsandculture.google.com/category/place

Webcams

There are many websites that allow access to live webcams for example sites such as Explore.org and EarthCam. These can let you view live feeds from all over the world. For example if you were looking at seasonal changes or day and night you could use a live feed from Australia to show the children that it was nighttime there.

There are many nature webcams too, for example via The Wildlife Trust. In springtime, children can view nestbox cameras and keep an eye on hatching eggs and (hopefully) developing chicks! Many active volcanoes have webcams too, there’s always one erupting somewhere.

Virtual Reality Tours

If the budget allows then it’s also possible to use virtual reality (VR) headsets to experience more immersive field trips. These can be very expensive, but there are companies that will hire out class-sets of VR equipment on a daily basis. As a cheaper alternative use donated old phones, cardboard holders and apps such as Google Cardboard.

These VR experiences use interactive 360^o videos, or cleverly stitched together 360 ^o photographs with hotspots.

Google provides tours of places like inside the International Space Station or Space Shuttle or the Great Barrier Reef. You can find 360o videos on YouTube and there are also specific apps  you can install.

See also the City Walks Live website.

As well as the expense, studies such as Han (2021) have found that the headsets can cause motion sickness, social isolation, concerns about physical discomfort and eye strain.

Make your own tours

It is possible to make your own tours as well. You can create a list of points of interest using Google Maps and share it with a class. 360^o Cameras are now reasonably affordable and you could take one on a class trip and record your own video content. Apps such as ThingLink let you add hotspots to 360^o photos and videos to create interactive tours for other classes to use.

If you’ve had successful virtual field trips with your class, share the ideas in the comments below!

References

Han, I. (2021) ‘Immersive virtual field trips and elementary students’ perceptions’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(1), pp. 179–195. doi:10.1111/bjet.12946.