By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
Members of the Hillsborough Board of Education were wowed by the images in front of them, as students from Woods Road Elementary School took them to Yellowstone National Park without having to leave the dais.
With Google Expedition tablets in hand, a group of fourth graders showed the school board around the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota during a public school board meeting earlier this month.
“I was so excited for the public to see this because it’s a tool we use here seamlessly,” Woods Road Principal Jodi Howe said. “It really brings things to life, so to speak, and it’s outside of our four walls and out of the textbook.”
In recent weeks, the elementary school’s fourth graders have been visiting the various national parks that dot the country, from Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone National Park.
“What we believe, as far as technology is concerned, is that our students are benefiting from the use of technology every day,” Ms. Howe said.
Dina Stoff, a library media specialist at Woods Road Elementary School, said the project was an extension of a national initiative called the “Every Kid in a Park” program, which started last year.
“(The program) is a way to get the students out and exploring and visiting the things our great nation has,” she said. “They aren’t just reading about a park — they’re getting a visual of what these things are. Instead of reading and trying to visualize in their minds, they’re actually put in these places and able to experience them in 360 degree views.”
Not only does the program allow fourth graders to use virtual reality and Android-powered tablets to “visit” various locations, but also the National Park Foundation provides all participating students and their families free passes to visit the nation’s parks in real life.
Ms. Stoff said she used the school’s introduction to the program, which took place late last year, to fuel the fourth graders’ research project, pushing them to choose a particular national park and center their work on it.
“Every week, I take the kids on little ‘field trips’ before they go off to work on their research projects,” Ms. Stoff said.
While on their “expeditions,” students have the ability to move about the park and look at whatever they want to within the app. In order to ensure that the class stays focused, however, the teacher has tools that allow them to more closely cater the experience to the lesson.
Ms. Stoff said teachers using the program can use what the kids are looking at as a jumping off point for instruction, since the application also provides little tidbits of information to relay to the class.
“I can create a circle on a spot that I want the students to focus their attention to and arrows will direct them to turn their tablets to get to that circle,” she said. “Then I can explain highlights about different points in the expedition.”
In order to further ensure that kids are paying attention to the lesson, Ms. Stoff said the Google Expedition program requires that all devices are connected to a separate Wi-Fi network that keeps students from deviating onto the internet or use other apps.
Though the program is still new within the district, the use of technology within the classroom is not.
“The devices started for (the students) in kindergarten, so these children have had it for the last few years,” Ms. Stoff said. “It’s really seamless because they’re so used to the technology and the classroom teachers integrate technology into their classes throughout the day…it’s really second nature for them.”
As part of the program, students ultimately got to chat live via Skype with a park ranger from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
That level of connectivity to their subject, whether through technology or communication, is the ultimate goal for teachers, Ms. Stoff said.
“I think this is a way to get (the students) interested in more than just Hillsborough,” she said. “It gets them interested in what’s around them and what our nation has to offer. Hopefully if they travel throughout the year or over the summer, they can go to the parks website and direct their family to one of these places.”
