CAUGHT ON CAMERA
Fielder Elementary was chosen by Google for the Expedition Pioneer Program that allows teachers to take their students on virtual field trips. The school received a tablet for the teacher and cardboard viewers and phones for every student.
Twenty Fielder Elementary classrooms hosted virtual field trips on May 26 as part of the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.
Expeditions is a new Google product that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.
“We are excited our school was chosen by Google for the Expedition Pioneer Program,” said William H. Rhodes, Fielder Elementary principal.
“Our students will be virtually exploring sites such as underwater coral reefs, various biomes of the world, and the Grand Canyon—definitely places a school bus cannot take us,” said Rhodes.
Fielder Elementary received a tablet for the teacher, and Cardboard viewers and phones for every student. Google Cardboard is a virtual reality viewer made almost entirely of actual cardboard. Cardboard allows anyone with a modern smartphone to experience virtual reality.
Once the devices are on, the teacher selects a destination, and the entire classroom jumps there automatically. These “trips” are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360-degree photo spheres, 3D images and video, and ambient sounds — annotated with details, points of interest and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in the school.
During their virtual field trip, students got up close and personal with sharks in the ocean, floated in space and saw scenes from the Apollo 17 mission to the moon.
The list of possible destinations includes: The Wildlife Conservation Society, PBS, the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society and the Palace of Versailles. While nothing replaces hopping on a bus for a field trip, Expeditions provide an opportunity for supplemental learning, Fielder said.
“Our students will be virtually exploring sites such as underwater coral reefs, various biomes of the world and the Grand Canyon — definitely places a school bus cannot take us.” William H. Rhodes, Fielder Elementary principal