Virtual Field Trip

Join me to the 

Hershey Chocolate World Factory Tour full ride - It's the Milk Chocolate! 

As learners walk into the room, Snickers, M & M’s, Hershey’s, Twix, KitKat, Bounty, Oh Henry, Butterfinger and Crunch, will catch their attention. I will ask students, did they ever wonder how chocolate were made? After listening to their responses, I will further ask the students who would like to visit a Chocolate factory? Let us take a virtual tour to the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

The main idea for the virtual field trip is for students to visit an International manufacturing company, and develop a clear understand on how products are made from raw materials. 

Below is a graphic organizer designed by seventh grade students.

“Field trips are constrained by availability of time and funds and by risks from weather, health and safety. As a result, we are exploring the option of deploying Virtual Field trips (VFTs), to replicate the experience of field trips without stepping outside of the classroom” (p. 9). As students explore the topic Manufacturing they are introduced to new vocabulary words, while using a graphic organizers. Through “integrating text and visual imagery, the graphic organizers actively engage a wide variety of learners, including students with special needs and English language learners” (McKnight, 2012, para. 5). Additionally, Dr. Katherine McKnight (2012) states:

We know from learning theory that the human mind naturally organizes and stores information. Our minds create structures to store newly acquired information and connect it to previous knowledge.  The graphic organizers are visualizations of these mental storage systems, and serve to support students in remembering and connecting information.  When students are able to remember and assimilate information, they can delve into more critical thinking (para. 6).

“Pedagogically, we need to provide an environment that achieves higher learning through student activities within and beyond the classroom. For the students of the 21st century, it is our responsibility to prepare them for the technology-rich careers and lifestyles that awaiting outside” of school (Kundu, 2016, p. 9). Using the graphic organizer and virtual field trip students are actively engaged, and able to internalize the concept about Manufacturing.

References

Kundu, S. (2016). Designing an effective Virtual Field trip for e-Learning: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2016 IEEE International Conference, p. 9. doi:10.1109/TALE.2016.7851762

McKnight, K. (2012). Use graphic organizers for effective learning. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-graphic-organizers.