Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/669580
I M A G I N E B E I N G A B L E to take your students to visit the Great Wall of China, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, or even the planet Mars — without ever leaving the classroom. With Google's virtual reality viewer, dubbed "Cardboard," it's now cheap and easy to do just that. Cardboard is part of Google's Expeditions Pioneer Program, which offers virtual journeys to more than 100 destinations. Each destination includes educational content developed in partnership with organizations like PBS, the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The program's free kits include Cardboard viewers and Android phones for students and teacher, a teach- er-operated tablet, and preinstalled software that will keep the viewers synced together. Teachers set a virtual destination to send the whole class on a trip together. Educators can request a visit from an Expeditions team at google.com/edu/expeditions; teams visit selected schools, bringing the Expeditions kit, showing how it works, and helping set it up before class. Spots are limited. You can also sign up for a beta version of the Expedi- tions Android app, which cuts down on wait time. Other companies with VR devices include Sony, Samsung, Oculus and Amazon, though high price tags preclude them from wide educational use, at least for now. Meanwhile, non-Google educational apps for Card- board and other platforms are popping up almost daily. Virtual Reality Brings Unique Field Trips to the Classroom By TERRY NG Students and educators can use the inexpensive Google Cardboard (left) to visit and learn about real — and virtual — destinations and points of interest. 12 cta.org