“Making Field Trips Podtastic!” by Aliece M. Weller, John C. Bickar, and Paul McGuinness
This article was about using interactive podcasts on field trips to have the student more engaged in what they are seeing on their field trips. A specific program was introduced at the Boston Museum of Science as part of research done at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Students use handheld computers to use interactive podcasts so that they will spend more time and become more engaged in the exhibits. What happens at an exhibit is the students listens to a brief podcast about the exhibit, then take a quiz, and when they get the quiz correct they get to move on to a new podcast. The purpose of having handheld computers besides listening to the podcasts is that they can take photos and videos, record interviews with museum staff, look for additional information on the Internet, and to take notes. The student is supposed to make a presentation to show others using the material from their computers. The authors think this is a good idea because it allows for multiple ways of learning and for the student to explore the exhibit themselves.
I think this could be a good way to get students engaged in field trips. I remember on field trips I used to go on, we would get worksheet and students would either not bother filling them out, or not put a lot of effort into them, and we didn’t discuss the field trip much afterward. I agree that using podcasts and interactive exhibits would get students more engaged in learning on field trips. Field trips are supposed to be educational, but a lot of kids look at it more as a day off from real school, so I think having something interesting for them to do will increase the chances that they will learn something and get what they are supposed to out of the field trip. Having them make a presentation on the field trip will make them pay attention and allow the teacher to make the field trip relevant instead of just discussing what they did for a few minutes and then forgetting all about it.
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I agree with your reflection on the article that you read. It is more effective to have the students make a presentation on the field trip to see what they have learned and got out it. I think its a neat idea to have those podcasts, although I have never had experience with one. The idea of having more resources to go to is always a key factor in the process of learning.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a great article. Instead of field trips being nothing more than a day away from school, this makes the students' actually accountable for learning material while on the field trip. I think having an interactive program such as this is a great way to engage the students in the lesson as well. This also forces them to pay attention, so that they can pass the quiz and move on to the next topic. good job :)
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