Journal Article 1

Zanetis, J. (2010). The Beginner's Guide to Interactive Virtual Field Trips. Learning and Leading, 37(6)

As school districts lose more and more funding, and as the limitability of teachers to be creative and get their students outside the classroom diminishes, an amazing idea has risen from the ashes. Virtual field trips may be just what all those easily distracted students desire. Using the internet in school may be old news, but there are new advances in real-time interactions that allow students to see a museum, ask an expert at NASA, watch an excavation, or get involved at a science center. This may be all done through something called Interactive VFTs, which use videoconferencing technology that 30% of schools already have installed. Even more impressive, these "interactions" are based on national standards with classroom activities for students before and after. Teachers constantly are looking for ways to get students involved in the classroom, moving away the "lecture" methods that is now looked upon as non-engaging and far from benefiting any special needs students. The article also describes in great detail how a teacher may set up an interaction and how to find one to fit the classroom's needs.

As a future math teacher, how could I implement this in my classroom?

Math has to be one of the most difficult subjects in which to be creative, especially when it comes to lesson planning. However, we tend to forget that there is a lot of history in math. Mathematicians are important to remember when we learn things such as the Fibonacci sequence, the Pythagorean Theorem or Euclidean Geometry. More importantly, this is a great way to show how certain types of math are used in "real life," which is the question of the day if you've ever taught math. Calculus is a perfect example - showing the fluctuation of a business' gross profit.

If using an asynchronous VFT, how do I assure student stay on task?

Ooh, hard question. Well, when working in a computer lab, students are so, so easily distracted by MySpace, Facebook, ESPN or any other of the time absorbing websites. Well, first, it's most likely that the school blocks these sites. However, most students know how to get past this. So, assign a written or something that each student must show you upon leaving. It is actually not too difficult to monitor students in a computer lab, you just have to constantly move around and check the tabs open on the bottom menu or any other tabs open on the internet ;). They are very impressed when you know how to do this.