A virtual field trip is the idea of going on a field trip without ever leaving your classroom! When we think of a virtual tour we tend to think of a videogame-like atmosphere where we can walk around a 3-dimensional version of the place that we are "visiting". This is not always the case, however. Much of the time, especially with subjects like math, we are provided with a website that gives us insight into a certain topic with different ways to explore that topic.
In my classroom, virtual field trips can be used to explore topics more in-depth than we normally would. There are not very many physical locations that would benefit a math class to visit. Exploring a topic would be more beneficial.
It is not practical to use a virtual field trip on every topic but this can be used to deepen understanding and as a break in the normal routine. Virtual field trips allow students to add a visual component to what they are learning.
One negative of virtual field trips is that they take time and students may not always benefit from them. I know when I heard that we were going on a field trip in school all I thought was, "Day off!"
"There are not very many physical locations that would benefit a math class to visit." Well, that sounds like a challenge to me, so I did a search for "math virtual tour" to see what kind of virtual tours I would find. And I found that there are some interesting web sites to check. Here's one you might like to examine: http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/
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