Last week in class, there were only two presentations, and given that one of them was my own, there is only one more presentation to discuss. The final group of presentations showed off how you could take students on virtual field trips using free online resources.
The first application they showed off was a website called Virtual Tour Guys, which allows for 360-degree views of specific locations, specifically the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They showed off how they would be able take the students through the bear enclosure and how you can click on different areas of their habitat to learn about how bears engage with their surroundings. This was really cool and definitely appropriate for their selected age group of kindergarten. The kids would have an absolute blast with something like this, giving them the freedom to, as a class, explore an actual bear den from the safety of their classroom. To supplement this learning, the group also showed off Kai XR, which is an online software that allows students to create their own bear habitat using pre-rendered objects, like trees or bushes, and the thing I loved the most about it was that when the students completed their habitat, they could even put a bear inside their habitat. Very cute and really engaging. Next they showed off Boom Cards, which is an application that can be used to give your entire class pop quiz’ about the material they just learned. This is very user friendly and again, engages the students with the material. To top off this portion of the presentation, they showed off Jam Board and how it could be used to supplement their lesson on bears. It was used to decipher between objects that are naturally included in a bear’s habitat and allowed for objects to be dragged to specific spots on the board. Excellent use of this technology!
For the second part of their presentation, the group shifted focus from Kindergarten to eighth grade to take us on a virtual field trip of the Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington state. Using a website called YouVisit, the group showed that they would be able to virtually explore the top of the volcano, showing off how the rock concaved after eruption and even showed simulated footage of what the eruption would look like inside of the surrounding forests. This is heavy material, and I am glad that it was allocated to an older area level, like grade 8. They then showed off even more supplementary websites that assisted with this particular lesson. One piece of online software they showed that really perked my ears up was called Quizlet, which they used to create digital flash cards. What an incredible and simple idea to supplement learning and cement concepts. To finish off their presentation they showed off Kahoot!, which is a group quiz game that, again, allows the students to engage with the material in a fun and competitive way. Well done, team!