What is a virtual field trip?

A virtual field trip is a guided exploration with websites and PowerPoints,  among other things, that can help students explore a time and place that is not possible for the a student to see is real life whether it is because of economics or other factors.  A virtual field trip is different from a traditional field trip because a virtual field trip does not cause a student to have to travel, and virtual field trips are significantly cheap than traditional field trips.  Also a virtual field trip can allow you to experience things that are not possible anymore like seeing a T-Rex.  Sure you can go to a museum and look at a skeleton of one, but through a virtual field trip you can see how a T-Rex may have attacked its prey millions of years ago.  A virtual field trip is similar to a traditional field trip because the students are still getting the experience and information that they would on a traditional field while sitting somewhere like in a classroom.  Some benefits of virtual field trips are that children get to enjoy experiences that they would never have had to the chance to experience in person.  Field trips have become very hard to do because of the rise of traveling costs, and a virtual field trip gives students the chance to see things that they cannot see on a regular day.  You can have a group of 100 students in Dover, Delaware sit in front of the projection of the videoconference of an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio and feel like they are actually at the museum even though they are hundreds of miles away.  A virtual field trip may be a better option than a regular/physical field trip because you could make sure that you are able to include children with special needs while planning a virtual field trip.  A child who is wheel chair bound could have a difficult time going on trips to certain locations, so by having a virtual field trip you are able to include that student with the rest of the class.