Donabate Community College were delighted to welcome Google and their Expeditions Pioneer Program to the school on Wednesday the 20th April. The Expeditions Programme is a new product that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.
Fortunately, Donabate Community College were one of just a handful of schools worldwide, who were chosen to try out this new, innovate learning experience which combines education and technology, creating a hands-on effective learning environment. Our school was among the early adopters at second level to embrace twenty-first century learning in 2013 with 1:1 devices for all Junior students and four state of the art computer rooms alongside Professional Development for teachers.
On Wednesday morning, a box arrived with everything needed to travel: a tablet for our teachers, and Cardboard viewers and phones for every student. Next, our teacher chose a destination, and the entire classroom jumped there automatically. The Wildlife Conservation Society, PBS, the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, and the Palace of Versailles contributed to developing the curriculum for students.
Upon holding the device up to our eyes, we travelled around the world and got to experience a virtual reality of many famous landmarks, consisting of 3D images and videos. Places such as the Moon, the Great Barrier Reef, Buckingham Palace and the Egyptian Pyramids among
many, many others, all came to life in our classroom, allowing us to achieve a greater insight into some of the wonders of the world. While immersed in this virtual world, our teacher provided us with knowledge and interesting facts relating to the landmarks and linked back what we were seeing and experiencing with the knowledge and skills we develop every day.
We really enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience, as it gave us a better understanding of these prominent places, with many of them tied in with our core subjects such as History, English, Geography and Science. Although nothing replaces hopping on the bus for a field trip, Google Expeditions provide an unparalleled opportunity for supplemental learning and we are really proud to have been a part of it.
Thanks to Fifth Year Students Alison Wall and Niamh Byrne for this reaction to what was a wonderful day in the College. Our thanks to all the team at Google for offering our students and teachers such a wonderful opportunity and we hope they will visit again soon!
