Students and staff will go on virtual field trips — to places no school bus could take them — when Google Expeditions visits Milwaukee Collegiate Academy on April 11.
Google Expeditions is a new 3-D, virtual reality application that uses Google Cardboard viewers. The application lets students take virtual field trips to all kinds of unique places throughout the world, including the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef.
“We are very excited about this opportunity,” said Principal Judith Parker. “Google Expeditions will help make our curriculum come alive and will give the students the feeling that they are living the experience.”
Kourtney Bauswell, a Dean of Instruction at MCA worked with a Google rep who has sent out information on the program, a schedule and a list of expeditions that teachers could choose from. Bauswell then chose from list of exhibitions to align with high school’s curriculum.
“A goal of the Google Expedition program is to give students a deeper understanding of the abstract concepts they’re learning about,” says Bauswell. “Not only does it offer an alternative perspective to looking at a map or reading about the place, it also gives kids a unique way of seeing the world outside of their classrooms and communities.”
On the day of the event, the Google reps will pilot kits that take MCA’s students and teachers on a trip around the world.
Milwaukee Collegiate Academy (MCA) is a public charter high school delivering a college-focused education to high school students for over ten years. In 2015, MCA was named Milwaukee’s Charter School of the Year.