To find links to these resources, visit linktr.ee/VirtualFieldTrips.
Ready for a trip to Mars? Want to chat with an expert who can answer your class’s science or history questions? Interested in visiting museums and galleries without field trip permission forms? Then it’s time for a virtual field trip!
Several museums and non-profit organizations have developed engaging virtual field trips for K–12 students. Some are free, or have fee-assistance programs in place, while others charge per class or per student. There are thousands of virtual field trip options available for all grades; the examples listed below are just a small snapshot.
The Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre offers a variety of virtual programs for Grades K–10. Their virtual field trips give schools a chance to learn more about the plants and animals that live in BC’s ecosystems.
You can tour the Beaty Biodiversity Museum virtually with a museum interpreter. The Museum Interpreter shares stories and specimens from the museum and answers students’ questions. This can also be combined with a virtual visit to the Pacific Museum of Earth. The Beaty Biodiversity Museum also has several Beaty Boxes schools can borrow with touchable specimens and scientific objects for students to explore.
Access Mars lets you explore a 3D replica of the Martian surface created using digital photos taken from the Curiosity rover as it travelled across Mars. While exploring the Martian terrain, students can click on points of interest to learn more about the Curiosity mission.
The HR MacMillan Space Centre is currently sharing virtual presentations with schools, followed by a Q&A with staff to answer all your questions about space.
In addition to their in-person shows and exhibitions, Science World currently offers several online workshops for elementary students to learn more about science concepts and coding.
The Museum of Anthropology offers live virtual programs for elementary schools, as well as free downloadable programs for secondary schools. The Museum of Anthropology also has teaching kits for guided study in the classroom.
The Royal BC Museum has several 45-minute, 30-minute, and 20-minute digital program offerings. Digital programs are live, interactive learning experiences led by museum staff and cover a variety of topics including Indigenous history, natural history, and becoming BC.
Your class can now visit Barkerville virtually to learn more about BC’s Gold Rush. Barkerville offers virtual tours, re-enactments, and stories from the gold rush.
Grades K–12 can virtually visit galleries from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The museum offers virtual field trips tailored to all grade levels, led by museum staff. Each virtual tour ends with a visit to the Israel Asper Tower of Hope for 360˚ views of Winnipeg.
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia offers both a virtual tour and virtual classroom program. The virtual classroom program is facilitated by a Parliamentary Tour Guide and gives students an opportunity to learn about the building and the people who work in it. When possible, your local MLA may join the virtual classroom program.
Google Earth Timelapse uses over 15 million satellite images to show how the earth changed over the last 37 years. Students can watch the Columbia Glacier retreat, the expansion of mining in Alberta, deforestation in Bolivia, and urban growth in cities around the world.
Google Arts & Culture has partnered with over 2,000 museums, art galleries, and cultural institutions from around the world to create virtual experiences that enable people to view collections and galleries for free. Explore cities, art collections, galleries, and museums from around the world. You can explore by category, colour, time, theme, or collection.
The San Diego Zoo shares live footage from different animal enclosures on their website. Students and classes can watch elephants, pandas, owls, and more go about their day in a zoo enclosure.
For an interesting comparison of animal behaviour in man-made enclosures and animal behaviour in the wild, you can watch live footage from wildlife cameras in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries around the world on explore.org. Look for polar bears in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba or keep an eye out for the Big 5 in Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa. This website also saves highlights caught on camera, so there’s plenty to watch even if the wildlife is out of sight in the live footage.
Hang Son Doong is the world’s largest natural cave, located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. National Geographic has created a free virtual tour of this cave where you can experience the sights and sounds and read about the history and geography. Son Doong is more than 5 km long and reaches heights up to 200 metres in some of the largest caverns.
Parks Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum teamed up to create a virtual experience of the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park. The virtual experience allows you to explore a fossil gallery and learn about evolutionary and geological science. You can also learn about the history of expeditions in the area.
The Canadian Museum of History has 95 online exhibits to explore virtually at your own pace. You can browse stories, artifacts, videos, and galleries.