An innovative method of taking field trips will bring millions of students below and above the Earth this year.
The new season of electronic field trips will allow Ball State students -- as well as almost anyone with an Internet connection -- to view in-depth films on the electronic field trip Web site. In total, the program will allow 15 million students, teachers and community members who register on the Web site to view four presentations throughout the year.
This year's lineup includes "Just Where is that Zero-G Room?", a live broadcast of a flight on NASA's C-9 zero-gravity training aircraft, and "Exploring Nature's Plumbing System: Caves of the National Park System," which will showcase caves like Carlsbad Caverns and answer questions about cave formations such as stalactites and stalagmites. There will also be trips that explore forest canopies and the use of sports art in advertising, motion pictures, literature and pop music.
Students begin an electronic field trip by visiting the Web site to learn the background information on their particular field trip, and they use interactive content to help immerse them in the learning experience. The program also gives teachers the chance to create grade-appropriate activities and assignments that would be assigned to the students to help them develop their understanding of the subject.
After studying the Web site and classroom materials, students are then able to watch a live, 90-minute broadcast from the location that the trip is based on. These broadcasts typically include experts speaking on the topic along with teachers and students who have used the curriculum provided on the site.
Last season, the electronic field trip Web site won four Telly Awards, four World Media Festival Intermedia Globe honors and other awards in distance education.
Electronic Field Trips are sponsored through a $750,000 grant from the Best Buy Children's Foundation. Partners in the project include the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Space Center Houston and NASA, the National Park Foundation, Garfield and PAWS Inc., the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and five Smithsonian entities.
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