Try Out Google Expeditions… WOW!

Neil Jarrett

“Wow!  Amazing!  Ohhhhhh!  Wooaahhh!”

These were the sounds that could be heard in my classroom when we tried Google Expeditions this week!

Google Expeditions in the classroom

What is it?

Google Expeditions is a virtual reality tech tool that lets you and your class go on excursions around the world from the comfort of your classroom… and it’s all because of virtual reality (VR).  The teacher takes the role of the tour guide and the students are the followers.

Google Expeditions in lessons

Have a look at my video tutorial, showing you the basics of how it works:

Is it easy to set up?

Yes!  You need VR viewers for your students (you can easily purchase them from Amazon), mobile phones (fairly up to date iPhones or android phones work perfectly well) and the Google Expeditions app downloaded on to the devices.

I led the tour using an iPad.  The students wore the headsets and were immersed in the places they visited.  They followed the arrows that popped up and listened to the facts and questions that I read out.

VR in the classroom

What I did in the lesson

Our class topic is mountains, so, for an introductory lesson, we went on an expedition to Mount Everest!  It was amazing – we found out facts, interesting features and information about it’s geography.

You’ll be pleased to hear that we reached the summit!

One of the students asked if we could go underwater.  Sure enough, a number of reefs are available to explore.  Here is an example of what the students saw on the underwater expedition (unfortunately in 2D!):

Example of teaching Google Expeditions

Finally, you are not restricted to visit to just geographical places; you can also explore inside a human heart, a film studio, the moon and lots more!

Have a go.  Let me know how you get on by commenting below.

13 Comments

  1. Did the students use their own mobile phones? Do you have open wifi? What age groups are involved? Did you have any issues? We are likely to order a set, but I’m keen to cover all bases beforehand. Thanks.

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      1. That’s very helpful, thanks. One final question: were there any issues in getting the Google Expeditions app to their phones i.e. did you need parental permissions to do this etc, were any students resistant to downloading it?

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  2. Interesting. What did you have to buy? I am checking out their kits and they seem rather expensive. Looks like you can make some of this stuff though.

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  3. Hi, I teach first grade so my students do not have phones yet, but we have iPads in our classroom. Do you think it would be too hard to use with an iPad versus a small iPod touch? Is this something the student would have told while standing?

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    2. There is the option of using this with iPads, you just have to load the app. I’ve used it with 2nd and 3rd graders since they didn’t have phones and it was a tremendous success! They got lost in the trip even without the viewers. The experience is more impressive with viewers, but this was leaps and bounds above nothing, or just watching a movie.

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  4. Do all the phones have to be of the same system? iOS or android? Mine will probably be mixed but I really want to do this!!!! My kids are 12 years old, do you think it’ll work?

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  6. We had Google Expeditions team come into my school, and are exploring this further now. We bought cheap headsets for a few pounds from eBay and students need the app on their phones. I’m preparing a unit on Virtual Geography for later in the year, and will add your blog post to a list of sources if that’s OK.

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