Welcome back from Spring break and/or intercession. I hope whatever you did over your time you are feeling rejuvenated, and invigorated with the essence of spring. I spent some time this break in the Oylmpic Peninsula in Washington state surrounded by waterways and forest trails. It did my soul a lot of good to slow down, and just be surrounded by nature's beauty.
Throughout this past trimester I was spending a lot of time in specific classrooms which led to building relationships with students in those classrooms. Many of them shared stories of being stressed out, and were interested in learning about strategies to decompress, and relax when life felt overwhelming. In a perfect world all of these students would have access to our many beaches, trails, and state parks in the area. Although this might be realistic for some it is not for most of our students, and they often times miss out on these beautiful places that reset, and relax so many of us.
There are several programs available I would like to share that can still engage students with our state parks, and the experiences of exploring the wonderment in our own County. The idea is to use remote video conferencing to allow schools that couldn’t otherwise afford to bus their students into the wild, a chance to still get their students up close with nature.
The rangers drive utility vehicles–loaded up with the necessary video calling equipment to turn a tablet into a broadcasting studio–into environmentally significant sections of their park. Once stationary, they begin giving a real-time presentation to students about life in the forest, the importance of conservation, and the history of the Gold Rush era. And those rangers have been very busy. The PORTS program has delivered 1500 presentations to more than 46,000 students across 100 California schools over the past year.
In addition to linking students with experts on the ground, video calling can also embrace basic virtual reality and online pre-programed narrated displays to take them to unreachable destinations like the moon or the bottom of the ocean.
Similarly, the tech could in the future push them into fun, abstract displays of virtual reality, where a teacher can guide them through literacy and numeracy classes staged within an alphabet soup of floating letters and numbers, just waiting to be pushed in equations and solutions.
The PORTS program has so far kept its focus on the Californian schools within relative proximity to the parks. Luckily for us in San Diego we are close to many of the state parks. I did have the opportunity when I was teaching at Toussaint Academy to have my students skype with a park ranger at Anza Borrego and the students thought it was amazing, and in 2008 it really seemed AMAZING;)!
Other technologies that are also creating opportunities for students to experience in virtual reality exist as well. Last year Google started delivering its Expeditions Pioneer Program to schools.
Through the novel use of Google Maps, cardboard “virtual reality” glasses, and some repurposed smartphones, students are able to explore any place on the face of the Earth that has been mapped by the internet giant, which is pretty much any place on Earth. (Reach out to Jeff Heil for expert information on google and cardboard glasses!)
NASA has joined the party too, offering free, downloadable virtual expeditions that let school kids follow along with real scientists as they go about their work on real scientific research sites.
Both initiatives immerse children in a spherical view of these virtual worlds, which are navigated by head movements and can be customized by the teacher. It’s like taking a walk through Capitol Hill or Cape Canaveral without ever leaving the classroom, or having to navigate through tourists and traffic.
Let us know in the comments if you have already tried one of these programs, and how your experience was. Or, if you know of other awesome interactive resources please share those as well. After a winter of much needed rain we are entering into a spring of superblooms, vast fields of green, and pops of color everywhere you look. I hope you find/or have your own spot where you can celebrate nature's beauty and be reinvigorated with the season of growth, and fresh starts.
