The new educational “Google Expedition” device makes school trips things of the past thanks to the virtual reality “field trip” that takes classes to outlandish destinations without leaving their classrooms. And so was the case for a New Jersey primary school in the United States whose teacher, Jennifer Sanchez, raised nearly $1,900 online for eight mini tablets (smartphones can be used too) to take her children on a trip to Greece.
“To see how excited I was as an adult (this summer), I was like ‘forget about it, my kids will love this, they’ll eat this up,'” Sanchez recalled. “We’ve gone to caves in Puerto Rico…They’ve been able to walk on Mars.”
The project was launched in September, has also been piloted in McNair Academic High School in Jersey City, some Newark public schools, Hoboken High School, and other schools in Hudson, Essex, and Morris, Monmouth, Sussex, and Somerset counties, he said — plus schools in California, Illinois, Texas, New York, Connecticut, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
“When the application is available, teachers will actually be able to get more than they got (in the testing period),” said Ogbo. “We’re actually launching this now through the rest of New Jersey.”
Take a few quick virtual fields below, including Greece, an ocean safari, and a visit to a beach habitat: