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As budgets get tighter, real field trips get harder and harder to schedule. Recently I had the opportunity to experience virtual field trips that offer rich and engaging opportunities to explore the world around them without ever leaving the classroom. I received an email from Discovery Education with information to participate in “The Biggest Field Trip in North America”, May 10, 17 and 22. The link for more information is http://www.discoveryeducation.com/northamerica/ I appreciate the partnership of Discovery Education and the Smithsonian in bringing this resource that includes a tab for access to classroom resources, the ability to get a sneak peak and family discussion guides. The best of all, the resource is free. I would love to hear of other virtual field trips others have found and participated in.

These are great resources, thanks for sharing! I recently came across this write-up on running virtual trips, and thought there were lots of good, helpful tips to make it work. I especially like the opportunities for collaboration using video conferencing. Virtual collaborative trips seem like the best bet! http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/virtual-field-trips

I found a NSTA article about Windows into Wonderland. It can be found at http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/4/ss07_030_08_48

The best way I can describe this link is a virtual museum of museums

I love the idea of a visual "virtual" field trip. I like to go to educational places when I travel and that is a great way to share with my students. Thanks!

Hello: I am currently in College studying to be an Elementary Teacher. I am taking my first course on teaching Science and I love it. I was interested in this post because I had no idea that virtual field trips existed. I believe that this has its good and its bad, life everything of course. Like someone mentioned, now a days it is extremely hard to find the time, consent, and money to go on worthy field trips. I think this is sad because students truly benefit from the experience, the hands on, and just being there. Since this is reality, I believe that it is a great idea to have at least another way for students to "attend" field trips. I liked how one person suggested that you can make your own field trip and share pictures. I agree that students love to see these things especially what their teacher does. Thanks for sharing this awesome tip!! Olivia

Google Launches Virtual Field Trips Via New Google+ Connected Classrooms Feature http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/04/google-connected-classrooms/

Hello Sandy, Thank you so much for starting the conversation on virtual field trips. I am a pre-service teacher and I have never given much thought to this idea (until now). I have realized that the school budgets are quickly shrinking and field trips are being eliminated, as a result. I feel that students need to have exposure to learning the branches beyond the four walls of their classroom. I have explored some of the sites that were suggested in the previous posts and I am excited to use them in my future classroom. These posts also prompted me to research my own virtual field trips. I am currently creating a workshop on the structures of plants. I found a great website created by a school that would be a wonderful virtual addition to my plant life workshop (http://teacherweb.com/IL/JamesCBushElementarySchool/MrsHesemann/apt14.aspx). They have some additional virtual experiences for science and other content areas, as well. Again, I thank you for sharing this idea. It has sparked a whole new resource for me to use in the future.

I think making virtual field trip is really interesting. When I was in school we didn't have virtual field trip and the few times we went on a field trip it was boring. I think virtual field trip are really cool; I think they are worth the time for many reasons. First, it something that the schools don't need to pay anything for. Second, you have control of the whole class and you decrease the probability of any of the students getting lost. third, you are using something the students find interesting to them and they will definitely enjoy. When I become a teacher, I will for sure send more of my night doing virtual field trips.

As a future teacher I think that virtual field trips are a really good idea. Budgets are getting tighter and tighter and offering these virtual field trips can at times be even more exciting for students. Students will be interested in learning more about what they are viewing and can feel eager to visit it. Teachers will have control of their classroom and it won't be a stressful situation. In my opinion I think it is a great idea to offer students this instead.

Thank you for sharing! I think virtual field trips are a excellent way to engage students and provide a authentic experience. I created a rocks and minerals unit, and one of my lessons incorporated the Grand Canyon. I found this virtual website http://www.grandcanyonvirtualtour.com/. The website allows students to have a 360 degree view of the Grand Canyon. Students can also look at the archaeological digs.