Technology Supported Field Trips

The following post originates from the Innovative Practices at ACDS blog. It is offered to present a few ideas on how field trips can be enhanced through the use of technology. 

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The Second Graders joined with their Fifth Grade buddies to take part in Ms. Tacktill's series of art and technology field trips. This group went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum contemporary art exhibition. As part of Ms. Tacktill's art literacy and appreciation curriculum, the students went through the exhibit stopping at each piece to share their reactions with each other. The Fifth Graders jotted down the responses into their iPads. 

A second learning opportunity had the student teams revisiting the art to view it a second and third time for further reflection. Along the way the Fifth Graders used their photography skills to take photos of the art and of their buddy. They would go on to import the photo of their buddy into an art app on their iPads. They then drew inspiration from the sculpture and mixed media paintings to digitally paint backgrounds around the photo of their buddy. 

The Second Graders looked for pattern repetition in the art as they recently studied it with Ms. Tacktill. They then used iPads loaded with a photo of a portion of one of the patterned paintings to expand the patterns. You can see examples of their creative work above and below. Nice work Second Graders!

Field Trips

Field trips can involve four stages of learning for our students. ICL can support all the stages. In Stage 1, we can provide books, articles from databases, Web sites, videos and when visiting museums, a review of its Web site. Carefully crafted questions help students use research skills to begin their understanding of what they will experience during the field trip. By building their foundation knowledge, they are able to make the most of their time on the excursion. 

During Stage 2, the students take their trip. This is when they can experience the roles of photographer, videographer, reporter, and/or subject matter expert who gathers information. Student learning can be amplified when they work individually or in teams to use cameras and/or iPads to take photos and videos. They can play the role of reporter being video recorded to explain museum exhibits, give details on a site they are visiting, etc. Internet connected mobile devices provide students instant access to further information as questions come up during the visit. Stage 3 of the learning occurs when students return from the trip to begin processing the information they gathered. Technology supports collaboration when using information storage and storyboarding resources like Google Docs, Mindmeister, and Padlet. Stage 4 engages the students to report their learning depending on the teacher assigned assessment. 

Connecting students to other societies through geography can be supported through tools like Google Maps and Google Earth so check the next section on "Geography Connections". 

There are so many museum Web sites that offer rich student learning opportunities. Here are a few resources:

• Project Mash to Connect Museums and Other After School Learning Opportunities
• 77 Online Museums
• SmartHistory of Art thought the Ages
• Smithsonian Quests Inspiring Students to Explore, Connect and Learn

A few possible projects and tools to support field trips:

• Connected Classroom which provide virtual field trips via Google+
• Creation of a Virtual Exhibit using student recorded images and video to display them with tools such as Google Earth and Sites. Take a look at several examples using a variety of presentation tools. 
• Documentary using student recorded images and video of their in person visit or online visit
• Newscast using student recorded images and video of their in person visit or online visit
• Online or In Person Presentation of a field trip using Tool from our Presentation Technology Matrix
• Take Google Photo Sphere photos with Bubbli app on iPad/iPhone or Google Camera app on Android to contribute toGoogle Views
• Pull image of art from the museum collections in Google Cultural Institute for virtual tours that students can create within the Web site

Image Source