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A Guide to Field Trips
Using MERLOT to Develop Field Trips for Inservice and Preservice Teachers
MERLOT's Teacher Education Board
Bruce Bennett, Robin Blackman, Loretta Driskel, Doris Dickerson, Vito Dipinto, Cris Guenter, Angela Gunder, Elaine Lawrence, Jane Moore, Stephanie Robinson, Laurie Tenzer, Mary Wall, David Wicks, Esperanza Zenon
Field Trip is a free app designed for the iPhone and/or Andriod by Google, Inc. It is your guide to many interesting things in the world around you. Field Trip runs in the background on your phone. When you get close to something interesting, it will notify you and if you have a headset or bluetooth connected, it can even read the info to you. It is now available on Google Glass.
How can this be used by preservice or inservice teachers?
Field Trip can be used by teachers to discover new resources in their community. It can be set to discover museums, historical sites, etc. Field Trip could be used by preservice teachers to develop a yearly plan for field trips in their area (or in a distant area). It can also be used by students to discover information in a variety of disciplines It would also be useful to all groups when traveling to find areas of interest to bring back to their classrooms.
Woices is an web-based program that allows you to create geolocalized audio tours. Users choose locations on a map and combine them with photos and voice narration to create an "echo" - these echoes can then be strung together to make a complete audio tour called a "walk". Audio tours can be made online or even from a mobile device as you are on location. The completed walk can be accessed from a desktop computer or a mobile device, so the walk can be used as a tour guide or curricular reference.
How can this be used in by inservice and preservice teachers?
Woices would allow a teacher to prepare a guided tour for students on a field trip. He or she could produce the guide online or on site prior to the field trip. For preservice teachers, Woices could be used in an assignment--having the undergraduate or graduate students use Woices to create a tour of their student teaching classroom, or design and share a real or virtual field trip. Middle school or high school students could create tours related to a particular discipline.
History Detectives: Planning a Field Trip
The direct link to the Field Trip site within this site is: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/educators/technique-guide/taking-a-field-trip/
This is a good, basic explanation of how to organize a field trip. It includes information for the rationale for field trips and as well provides links to an organizer, chaperone guide, permission slip and other materials that will make field trip planning an easy process.
How can this be used by inservice and preservice teachers?
Teachers could benefit from this "refresher" on the value of and planning for field trips. The suggestions are relevant and useful. The supplementary materials will make any teacher's life easier.
This material could be placed within an online course or as a supplement to a face to face or blended course prior to an assignment to create a field trip (real or virtual). There are extension activities listed that teacher educators could easily use in a student teaching seminar or in a disciplinary methods course.
Some Disciplinary Field Trips:
History:
Scholastic's Immigration Site with a Virtual Field Trip to Ellis Island
Science:
Virtual Field Trip - The San Diego Zoo
Art:
A link to the field trip section can be found here:
Math:
Math Trails - you must log on to access the full list of sites.
Literature:
Experiencing Shakespeare - you must log on (free) to access the virtual field trip to the Folger Library.
Tolkein Field Trip, Parts 1 and 2.
Multidisciplinary and other disciplines:
Creating a Narrated Tour in Google Earth
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From a user:
http://www.educationworld.com/search/node/field trips
This website offers technology integration and features collaborative projects, virtual field trips, educational games and other interactive activities; it can be used at any grade level to teach students. Site also includes links for parents, teachers, administrators, technology and professional development and lesson plans.
Doris Dickerson