If you are looking for a way to spark curiosity, infuse technology, and integrate critical thinking skills into your World History class this year, virtual field trips are a great addition! Step outside of the textbook and provide a space for students to lead their own learning through interactive and engaging virtual tours. Plus integrate reading, map skills, and writing all in one activity!
Early Civilizations through the Fall of the Western Roman Empire
I've put together a year-long bundle that includes over 20 virtual field trips that spans from early civilizations to the fall of the Western Roman empire. These digital activities are set up in Google Slides with clickable links and are ready to go!
Ways to Integrate Virtual Field Trips
Virtual field trips make great anticipatory sets to get students engaged with the unit of study. They can be conducted teacher-led or assigned as independent work. Wrap up a unit with a virtual field trip, or use these activities as an extension for early finishers. Virtual field trips also make great sub plans since they are low prep and all of the student instructions are integrated into the activity. These virtual field trips are a great fit for homeschool families too.
Students Love Google Earth™
We need to stimulate the brain, because as Zaretta Hammond says, "only the learner learns." Students LOVE Google Earth™ and there are so many amazing features with this platform that can bring history and geography alive. Students can "walk around" and experience panoramic views of places around the world while never leaving the classroom. Each virtual field trip includes direct links to Google Earth™ 360-degree views. Students click on the link and are immediately transported to the next location. Simple and streamlined is such an important aspect of integrating technology and everything within the virtual field trips are easy to navigate.
Integrate Informational Text & Video Clips
Background knowledge is key to reading comprehension, and through virtual field trips, your students will not only read informational text but have an opportunity to watch short video clips that are designed to bring in multiple perspectives.
Critical Thinking Skills
Every virtual field trip includes historical thinking questions. These go beyond questions that assess a student's reading skills, such as "summarize the text." Instead, questions challenge students to think about what they learned, if the information challenges or supports their prior knowledge, and asks students to record observations from their virtual field trip experience. A grading rubric is included which assesses accuracy, thoroughness, validity, and writing conventions.
With diverse classrooms, there is no one-size fits all. That's why all of the critical thinking questions included are editable. They are set up as short answer responses, but can be changed to better align with your unit of study or to suit your student needs. As well, all of the Google Earth™ links and YouTube video links can be changed or modified.
Map Skills
Map skills are included throughout the virtual field trips. There are many drag & drop map skill activities within the geography portions of the virtual field trips. Students use satellite imagery to help navigate various maps and charts. Answer keys are provided for all map skill slides.
Standards Alignment
This entire World History and Geography Bundle has been aligned to the Tennessee 6th Grade Social Studies Standards, but this can crosswalk to many different state standards if you are teaching a World Civilizations course. These activities are also aligned to the Common Core Standards for reading informational text.
Tech Tips
All of the virtual field trips are set up in Google Slides, but if your school uses a different learning platform, I've put together a blog post with tutorials and helpful tips for using a different LMS. You can read more here.
What Teachers are Saying about Virtual Field Trips:
"My students LOVED this resource. Can't emphasize this enough. We completed the field trip for Mesopotamian Ziggurats during our asynchronous work time one day and when all was said and done, they all asked when the next virtual field trip would be! I was glad to provide them with a resource that introduced them to Google Earth, a website some students didn't even know existed!" -M.G.
"The students loved these virtual field trips! They were so excited and couldn't wait for the next one! : ) Very easy to use, no setup needed." - K.M
"This resource was used for in-person and remote learners simultaneously. The questions asked got the students thinking about the topics. They were amazed at how old some of the structures were! I also appreciated that the documents were editable. For my struggling learners I was able to adapt the phrasing of the questions to fit their needs. Big fan of her resources!" -D.C.
The entire year-long bundle is a great time and money saving option. Save 30% by purchasing the bundle, and save yourself tons of prep time this school year!
Check it out here: World History & Geography Virtual Field Trip Entire Year Bundle
