20 virtual field trips for your class

1. Skype in the classroom

 Microsoft’s Skype in the Classroom site (SkypeInTheClassroom.com)  offers a database of thousands of teachers, hundreds of guest speakers and dozens of free virtual field trips. With contact information. Your class can connect to the world through virtual field trips, Skype lessons, Skype collaborations, mystery Skypes, and guest speakers.

Learn more: About Mystery Skypes and why we need more

2. Google Expeditions

 With the Google Expeditions app, available on iOs and Android, you can take your class on interactive journeys in both VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). Through Aquilla Education's website, you can search available expeditions by grade level, subject or location.

Learn more: How to Make Their Learning Go Viral | Interview with Karly Moura – GTP002

3. 360° Cities

 Do you want to try diving with tiger sharks? Or maybe parachute jump from 10,000 meters? 360° Cities provides the largest collection of amazing, high-resolution panoramic images of locations all over the world. Some images have sound as well so that the viewer is truly immersed in the experience. Images can be used in VR lessons or on any device!

4. Nearpod

Nearpod VR allows educators to take their classes on virtual field trips around the world on any device. Nearpod VR works on VR headsets but you don't need to use them to experience a virtual field trip. With over 450 destinations to choose from you can take your kids to so many incredible places! You can also search by subject area so that you can be sure it fits with your class or curriculum.

6. Field Trip Zoom

 Field Trip Zoom has an extensive calendar of interactive events that can be live streamed into your classroom. Although Field Trip Zoom is not free they do offer a one month free trial for new schools or school districts.

7. Google Tour Builder

 Google Tour Builder is an exciting way to create your own tour to share a journey and highlight locations along the way using Google Earth. Tour Builder brings together the best of MyMaps and Street View. With Tour Builder, you can take viewers from location to location in first-person 3D glory. Choose the locations, choose how you want them to be seen and add any additional information. Students can view tours that have already been created or create one of their own!

8. Empatico.org

Empatico.org is a free resource that connects classrooms through video. Empatico empowers teachers and students to explore the world through experiences that spark curiosity, kindness, and empathy. Aimed at upper elementary school students, Empatico.org is a way for students and teachers to connect to other classes while focusing on sparking curiosity, kindness, and empathy. 

9. YouTube 360°

Did you know that you can watch tons of 360° videos on Youtube? You can search through tons of 360° videos on almost anything. Find exciting videos from National Geographic, Discovery VR, the Science Channel and more to use in your class.

10. National and State Park Virtual Tours

NationalParks.org provides students with electronic field trips that provide students the opportunity to go to parks they may never otherwise get to visit. The National Parks Service offers free ranger-guided virtual field trips on a first come first serve basis.

11. National Museum of Natural History

Take self-guided, room-by-room tours of exhibits from your device. You can walk through the museum and move from room to room through the map. It's an exciting and fun way to explore one of the most famous museums in the world. Visitors can visit permanent exhibits, current exhibits, past exhibits, take a narrated tour and more!

12. Street View Treks

Once you’ve seen your school from the curb on Google Maps Street View, take it to the next level with Street View Treks. These custom-produced exploration experiences are awesome for students. They provide information about the location and videos that pair nicely with the panoramic views. Locations include Nepal, Gombe National Park, the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Barrier Reef (a Street View Trek underwater!) and more.

13. Walking tour screencasts 

An extension to Street View and Treks is to let students take you on a walking tour of someplace in the world. They do some research and collect some facts about the location first. Then they load up the location using Street View or Treks. They start recording a screencast video (a video of what’s happening on their screen with their microphone recording their voices). Some free screencasting tools: Screencastify (my favorite), Screencast-O-Matic and Flipgrid (there are others). Students narrate the tour as they “walk” the streets using Street View or Treks.

Learn more: Google Maps walking tours with Street View and Screencastify

4. Google Cultural Institute 

These virtual tours don’t have to be confined to what you can see from the street. Google Cultural Institute gives you access to top-notch art collections from around the world (Art Project) and modern/ancient world heritage sites (World Wonders). Witness significant moments in history with Historic Moments, giving students a version of a field trip to the past.

15. Mapping fun

Creating or viewing an interactive map with images and information can be the next-best thing to visiting a location, and students can create their own. With Google MyMaps you can take your kids on an educational road trip right from your classroom. In this post by Craig Klement he shows you how  to take a road trip with Google MyMaps!

Learn more: 60 ideas for using Google MyMaps in any content area

16. Geoguessr 

This game is like a surprise virtual field trip every time you play. Geoguessr uses Google Maps Street View and places participants in a random location somewhere in the world. By panning around, zooming or “walking” down the street, participants place a pin on a map to guess where they are. The closer they guess, the more points they win. It’s great for critical thinking and using context clues.

17. Smarty Pins 

Smarty Pins is like Geoguessr’s cousin. Granted, it’s a little less like a virtual field trip, but it does use geography-based questions to play. Participants answer questions by dropping a pin where they think the answer is. It’s fun, it’s academic, and it is geography-focused … enough to constitute a virtual field trip experience? I’ll let you decide. 🙂

Learn more: 20 sites for students with free time on their hands

18. World National Parks 360 Tour

Part of Google Arts and Culture, The Hidden Worlds of National Parks take participants on a journey through some of the worlds most amazing places. See the Kenai Fjords, Hawaii Volcanoes, Carlsbad Caverns, Bryce Canyon and the Dry Tortugas. 

19. Stages Around the World 360 Tour

Take a trip step inside 11 dramatic virtual tours some of the most beautiful theaters, concert halls and opera houses in the world. Carnegie Hall, The Colosseum in Rome, and The Sydney Opera House are just a few of the amazing trips you take!

20. Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips 

Discovery Education produces some really solid, well produced virtual field trips. They’re live and incorporate images, live video and pre-produced video. The hosts answer questions on the spot during the live broadcast from students who are watching. Past virtual field trips are viewable on video (see video to right from Ford’s Theatre). Each field trip includes classroom resources and activities that teachers can use instantly. Find them on Discovery Education’s events page by selecting “Live/Virtual Field Trip” in the drop-down filter menu.

10 activities to do on your virtual field trips!

1. Connect with the local community.

If possible try to connect with someone living in the location you are visiting. Utilize the Microsoft Educator Community and see if your class can Skype with someone local to your destination.

4. Preview or review the virtual field trip with a game.

Kids love virtual field trips almost as much as they love games. Add even more fun to the experience with a Jeopardy-style game, puzzles or a game-based learning tool like Gimkit, Quizizz or Kahoot!

6. Add a stem connection with 3D printing or a makerspace challenge.

After visiting a place have students create an artifact from the destination. Students can use everyday household items to create or take it up a few notches by having them create a 3D object in a program like Tinkercad. If you are lucky enough to have access to a 3D printer students can even print their artifact and share with the class.

7. Take others to your destination with green screen.

Have students share what they learned about a location by creating their own news report. Use an app like DoInk to transport students back to the location of your trip with Green Screen.

8. "Travel" with another class.

Students can become virtual pen pals with classes all over the world through Flipgrid's GridPals. Take your students on a virtual field trip to a famous landmark near your GridPal's location or use Google Street View to visit their town!