Main Menu / Problems and Scenarios / Teacher Resource Guide
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In the classroom: Virtual tours allow the teacher to take students inside businesses and industries without concerns for safety, level of interest, discipline problems or cost. Each tour showcases the use of mathematics and science in the workplace. The field trip experience includes still images, video clips and audio clips which take the participant into the workplace in a way not usually possible in a real time visit. The field trip participant will hear an explanation of the work being done and see the action as well. Short texts descriptions are also included. The field trip is a multi-sensory experience that is sure to appeal to a wide range of learning styles and teach across multiple intelligences. There is almost a limitless variety of ways that the field trips might be used by teachers. Here are a few suggestions for how they might be used.
Show the video clips to illustrate "real world" applications of math and science. The video clips can be shown in class to demonstrate to students that there really are applications for the mathematics and science concepts and skills we are teaching. The entire set of Web pages can be explored with a class or the most relevant clips can be shown independently.
Play the audio clips to associate the use of mathematics and science with actual people in the workplace. Each trip contains audio and video which illustrate how "real" people use mathematics and science in the "real world." The ordinarily sterile skills we teach in class can come alive when they are associated with the faces, names, and voices of people in the virtual field trips.
Incorporate the video and audio clips into a problem-based learning approach. Each trip can be used as to set up a learning scenario. Students working alone or in groups may be assigned problems from the database pertinent to that particular field trip or the teacher may develop other problems for groups of students to work on. The field trips allow authentic learning activities tied to standards to be given within a realistic context.
Use the audio and video to set the stage for problems found within the database. The audio and video files may be used by a teacher to set the stage for problems found within the database. The audio and video show situations where mathematics and science skill are put to use in the workplace. The clips might be played and then the problems could be worked together in class or given as an assignment to the students.
Assign the field trips to student groups. Groups of students could be assigned a virtual field trip along with a set of questions from the database. This could be done in class or given as homework if the students have computer access at home.
Virtual field trips could be used as a way of generating career interest or awareness. The virtual tours could be used as a way of supplementing units on careers. It could also provide an opportunity to incorporate career awareness into mathematics and science instruction.
In the home:
Virtual field trips could be a supplement to the regular classroom. Students with Internet access at home could be assigned a virtual field trip as a way of enhancing of supplementing their regular classroom experience. Parents could be encouraged to work through the virtual tours with their children.
Virtual field trips could be used as a way of generating career interest or awareness. Within the field trips students and parents are exposed to a wide range of jobs. In each tour it is clear that there is more to being a successful employee than just having gone to school. Parents can discuss with their children how their own work experience compares to the work environments shown in the virtual field trips.
How can the Activities be used?
All the virtual field trips will include hands-on activities for students. In some trips the activities will be located on special activities Web pages. In other trips the activities will be found on the Web pages within the field trip. In both cases the activities will be available through the teachers' resource guide pages. The activities will give the students an opportunity to perform a hands-on task that will simulate the work done in the workplace. The materials needed might be as simple as paper and glue or as complex as wires, batteries, bulbs, and other electronics. The complete materials lists and directions will be found with the teachers' resource pages.