If you haven't heard of Google Expeditions, then let me tell you it is one of the coolest experiences for a person. Google has teamed up with education to provide students with the opportunity to experience far off places like they are there! Teachers use the app to download an expedition and then connect to the tour on each of the student phones. The student phones are placed securely in a headset that students wear on their head allowing them to see what is pictured on their phone HANDS FREE!
I checkout out a kit for the very first time this week to further our learning on community helpers. We chose an expedition that allowed us to learn about a pilot. It was the coolest experience for my kinders and the excitement in their voice was priceless.
Once students have their headsets on then the teacher controls where they go and can direct them to what they want their students to look at, but also allowing them to look around on their own. On our expedition students were able to see Pilot Pam in the airport checking the status of her flight as well as learn what passengers do before getting onto their plane. Throughout this particular expedition students were also able to see the walkway onto the plane, the outside of the plane, the engine, and the cockpit.
We are fortunate enough to have a few kits purchased through our technology department that are available to teachers to check out and use in their classroom. The set includes a teacher device, 30 student phones, and 30 student headsets.
This is such an appropriate learning tool for any grade level as you can alter what your students experience and what kind of assessment you want your students to have during or following the expedition.
For my kinders I used my 30 minute prep time to prepare each of the student devices sitting them safely on the floor in front of their circle spot. Before the expedition I explained what we were going to do and how to make this a fun and safe experience. I held up a headset and explained how they would put it on. We also talked about how important it is to stay seated on our pockets because this sometimes can make us feel dizzy. When using the headset I explained that we are sitting still and always on our pockets, however if we become dizzy or do not feel good, we can gently take off the headset and place it in our lap until we feel up to it again. When picking up my students from their special they returned to the classroom where they sat on their circle spot (a specific spot that is specific to them). On the floor in front of them was a headset that they were asked to put on and begin exploring. The excitement was evident as soon as those headsets were put on!
As the teacher I go through the tour on my device explaining each part along the way. No worries if you are not experienced about that particular subject, there are explanations of each area that allow you to teach and explain to your students.
I hope this inspires you to check out Google Expeditions more and experience the thrill for yourself!
