"Finally, I Get to See Snow in Real Life"

       The first words a student said as he strapped on his Google Cardboard and explored with Expeditions. Imagine how immersive the environment had to be for the student to process the visual image as a real life experience. So how does all this work? Expeditions allows teachers to use photospheres from Google Maps to take students on "field trips buses can't go." Hawthorne Elementary and RUSD welcomed the Google Edu team, participating as a part of their Expeditions Pioneer Program. The Pioneer Program is a pilot program from Google that is sending out classroom kits of Google Cardboard units and Nexus tablets with the Expeditions app. The app allows the teacher to direct students to specific locations to engage students with questions and opportunities for discussion. Students from Hawthorne visited The Great Barrier Reef, Rome, and Amazon jungles.
       RUSD has more than one school participating in the Pioneer Program as Expeditions will be visiting Liberty Elementary on Thursday and Sierra Middle School on Friday. Check below for some pictures from the day.