13.8. FIELD TRIPS

The field trip lets learners explore a real or conceptual space. It consists of definite stops where the learner can observe and learn. Field trips are also known as virtual tours or online tours.

The following example is a virtual field trip showing the variety of pure and mixed architectural styles in one neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado. (And yes, it is the neighborhood in which your humble author lives, though not in a house so grand, alas.)

The tourist traverses the field trip by repeatedly clicking the Next button, or backs up by clicking the Previous button.

Each basic stop on the field trip contains a picture of a house and commentary on it. It also contains a you-are-here map showing the location of the house and the direction of the view shown in the photograph. Some stops have alternative views that the tourist can select in the you-are-here map.

Clicking the Gallery button brings up a page that shows thumbnail images of all the houses on the field trip. Here the tourist can chose to visit a particular house by clicking on its image.

Art is not to be taught in Academies. It is what one looks at, not what one listens to, that makes th e artist. The real schools should be the streets.

—Oscar Wilde

To find more examples of field trips, search the Web ...

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