We're Going on a Google Expedition!

Today students in grades first through fifth at my buildings experienced the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.  Google Expeditions is still currently in Beta and staff are visiting schools around the globe in order to test with students.  If this is entirely new to you, here is a description from Google itself:

What is Expeditions?

Expeditions combines three things: software built with teachers for teachers, immersive virtual reality content, and devices that are available to any school.

The content

Expeditions are collections of virtual reality panoramas—360° photo spheres, 3D images and video, and ambient sounds—annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools. Partners like the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, David Attenborough with production company Alchemy VR, and many of the museums and other partners of the Google Cultural Institute are helping us to create custom educational content for Expeditions.

The app

Expeditions are accessed and viewed through an app that allows a teacher to choose a trip and lead a group of students through a virtual Expedition. Teachers are able to point out specific details within the panorama, pause trips to get the class’s attention, play ambient sounds to make the experience even more immersive, and let students freely explore on their own.

The hardware

While Expeditions can be used on devices already in the classroom, they come alive with Google Cardboard. Our Expeditions kit is a collection of all the hardware needed to go on Expeditions in full virtual reality—a tablet for the guide, VR viewers for each student, a speaker to provide ambient sounds and a durable box to transport, charge, and store it all. We know many schools don’t have great Internet service (or any at all) so we built Expeditions to work without it. The kit includes a router that allows Expeditions to run over its own local Wi-Fi network so there’s no buffering, dropped connections or lengthy loading times.

I was excited when I registered to have the opportunity for Google Expeditions to visit one of my buildings and even more excited when I heard a few months later that they would be in the area and my students would have this amazing opportunity.  

Many of the teachers were able to tie these virtual field trips to curriculum, like studying dying ecosystems, or on current extra-curricular projects, like our connection with South Africa.  Along with the virtual field trip comes so awesome talking points for teachers so that we were able to guide our students on their trip.  Students learn so much from opportunities like this that are extensions to their lessons rather than just lecture and slideshows.  They feel as if they are fully immersed in this location and really make some connections!

Places the students had opportunities to visit were:

• Taj Mahal
• Coliseum in Italy
• The Great Wall of China
• Petra
• Rio de Janeiro
• Machu Picchu
• Galapagos Islands
• Preserved Oceans around the globe
• Statue of Liberty
• Ellis Island
• National Parks in California
• Yellowstone National Park
• Kruger National Park in South Africa

The ability offer these virtual field trips to my students is amazing.  Students may not ever be able to experience these locations so I am doing what I can to get them there.  Virtual Reality offers this amazing opportunity for kids from the comfort of their own school or home.

The kids have already begun asking me when I am purchasing them for the building or where they can buy Google Cardboard on their own.  Right now there is a Google Cardboard app for iOS or Android and the actua Expeditions app we used has not yet been released to the public.  But its coming!

Check out the Animoto: