"Students who lack sufficient background knowledge or are unable to activate this knowledge may struggle to access, participate, and progress throughout the general curriculum, where reading to learn is a prerequisite for success" (N. Strangman & T. Hall)
Knowing how important it is for students to have background knowledge and the disadvantage students are at without it, it is vital that teachers provide virtual field trips for their students. Our curriculum is designed to teach students about the world. And while it would be great to be able to travel the world with our students and provide them with real life experiences and memories for them to build off of, it is not a scenario that is offered to the majority of our students . Fortunately, we can bring many of the wonders of our world to our classroom. One teacher in our building has the students create fake passports for the Social Studies unit on Canada and Mexico. She stamps the students "passport" after each field trip. Many of her lessons include a "guest speaker." However, the guest speaker is thousands of miles away. Through the use of Skype, she has students talk with a native from the country they are studying. The students are no longer simply reading about this far away land, they are experiencing it through another persons eyes. Suddenly their lesson and objective for learning has relevance and personal meaning. The students can connect with the concept and are concerned...which aligns with the theory of cognitivism.
While virtual field trips are of great benefit to students, they are only one of many tools available. They can be strengthened when combined with a concept map. Concept maps allow students to visually show the knowledge they are learning and the path that has gotten them there. The concept map displays the connection or thought process that leads the thinker to the outcome reached. It is a tool showing relationships and recall. Having just started playing around with this tool, I am amazed at easily one concept naturally leads to another. I would love to see how insightful concept maps could be when used in a high school history class!
http://www.cast.org/system/galleries/download/ncac/ncac_BK.pdf
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Wow! You are using a great variety of instructional methods to make your classroom come alive! I never thought to use Skype before. That is fantastic... I may have to try that next year!
ReplyDeleteIn my school, we are located about 45 minutes from the beach, and many of my students still have never been to a beach. We planned a real field trip to go to the beach for an Ecology project, but not all of the students could go. Virtual field trips would be very beneficial if not all students could attend the field trip. Also, this allows them to explore many, many lands and places from all over the world!
Did you use the concept maps before, or are you going to include them in your plans for next year? I never used them in my planning, but next year will be another story!
Thanks for the great Skype idea!
http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/2008/04/using-skype-in-classroom.html
here is a blog for using skype in the class!
I have not used the concept maps yet in my teaching, I am excited to implement them next year. In thinking about your comment that not all kids were able to attend the field trip, I am wondering...what about taking a flip camera or video camera along and having students create a virtual field trip to show to the students that were absent that day? I could see this benefiting both parties involved!
ReplyDeleteThat would be a fantastic idea! And with the field trip we did, it would definitely be manageable and beneficial... plus the students would even like to see themselves on television! I am most definitely going to use that next year. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteIt always breaks my heart because I have over 200 students between the two Marine Biology classes, and we are only permitted one bus. This makes me feel a little better!
What an awesome idea for Social Studies! It creates interest in the topic and keeps students interested. I bet students will remember this class for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteUsing technology, whether it is a virtual field trip, concept mapping program, or just a power point, gives students another way of connecting information to prior knowledge or other ideas. This allows students to better understand a topic and keeps it interesting.
What a great example of using technology to connect students with people from other parts of the world. I often tell my students that travel is the best education and rave about the benefits of going, seeing and doing. Until you have lived in a foreign country, you cannot begin to understand how good we have it here in the United States. I am going to talk with some of the social studies teachers in my building and see if they use virtual field trips. This could very well be a great opportunity for some cross curricular activities where my computer lab could be used for the virual field trips.
ReplyDeleteBringing the field trips to the classroom is a great way for students to become exposed to a variety of different cultures and ideas. It is important to help students get as much background knowledge as possible when they are at a young age.
ReplyDeleteI have used concept maps for about ten years now. I first saw them being used in an International Baccaluareate school video when a school was looking at the possibility of bringing it to that school. If you have an ipod/iphone, Tony Buzon has an mindmap application that is free to use on your portable device. I used to organize a student celebration day at my school which became the responsibility of the connections team to do. It works the way our brain does......in pictures.
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