A Virtual Trip Planning Project
This concept was originally developed in conjunction with the use with Google sites but proved more streamlined when approached solely as an iPad project. It made up part of a larger project under as a part of the Science unit on Habitats and Adaptations. As such the trip was to planned with the intention of studying a chosen animal in its natural habitat.
What I’m presenting here is a more universal approach to the concept so that it could be applied in a wider range of curriculum areas. Perhaps it is simply part a geographical study of a country. Similarly it could be integrated into a historical study of a culture like Ancient Egypt. It could even be adapted to complement writing in Literacy, whether fiction or non-fiction. However you apply it, the project is essentially cross-curricular and incorporates a wide range of real-life learning skills.
KEY APPS: Maps/Google Maps
Naturally we begin with the selection of a destination and some map work to locate it using a mapping app. The Apple Maps app that comes with every iPad serves this purpose well enough since we are not plotting a direct route here. Alternatively use a 3rd party map app like Google Maps. Students should locate their destination country and then the capital city. Ultimately they need to locate an airport (usually the largest will be in the capital) so some additional research online may be needed. Additional extension work could take the form of identifying the distance to the destination or screengrabbing images from Maps and annotating them with an app like Skitch.
BOOKING A FLIGHT
KEY APP: Sky Scanner
The next session is an excellent example of real-life learning in action as the students compare flight prices to their destination using the Sky Scanner app. This works brilliantly as a role-play activity with “travel agents” set up to check prices for the travellers. Maths is the key learning area here and students get to sort and handle data as they search for the cheapest flight with the fewest stops. Departure time can also be brought into account in order to complicate matters further for more able learners. A variety of follow-up sums can also be designed around the theme with ease (e.g. how much more expensive is Virgin than Emirates?)
One thing to bear in mind with this activity is that some airports simply won’t appear in sky Scanner as they don’t accept commercial flights. We found this particularly apparent with students trying to fly to Polar Regions. Just be prepared to adapt destinations to the nearest available – even if it has to be in a whole other country.
RESEARCH THE DESTINATION
KEY APPS: Safari/Nat Geog World Atlas/Barefoot World Atlas
To be fair this session could come before the Sky Scanner one but it will help those whose destination changes to keep it till after. A straightforward research session, the aim here is for students to understand more about the culture of the destination. Currency, language, religion and food are key examples though researching features like the climate and terrain may also be useful before the next step…
PACK A SUITCASE
KEY APPS: Explain Everything/Book Creator
AStudents then gather images of items that they would pack in their case for the trip. This activity is great for developing reasoning skills as they justify their selections. Examples could be: sun cream, local currency, guidebooks, appropriate clothing, a mosquito net, thick furs – the possibilities are endless and when left to develop this task on their own, students will surprise you with their ingenuity! This task suits multimedia apps perfectly and both Book Creator and Explain everything would allow you to insert then scale the images as required as well as providing audio commentary on the reasons for their selection.
BUILD AN ITINERARY
KEY APPS: Calendar/Maps
Calendar is often overlooked as a teaching tool. With its variety of views and the ability to build timetables, it can be incredibly useful in the classroom when applied effectively. The purpose of this session is to build a timetable of events for the trip, starting with the plane’s arrival time (from Sky Scanner or just made up to simplify.) Students then apply logic and reasoning skills to decide what they would need to do next. Where would they go? How long would they spend there? So for example they may want to go straight to a hotel. A quick search for hotel whilst their airport is onscreen on Maps will pinpoint all the hotels nearby. Some of these even provide website links for further details (great for extension work – “what type of room will you book?”) All this information is then fed into Calendar to create the itinerary.
Students will again lead their own learning here and come up with a whole host of great ideas on their own. More able students can also use the mapping apps to calculate how long it takes to travel from one place to another – adding even more accuracy to their itinerary. Of course this task is quite open-ended and could be extended across several days as time permits. When finished, a quick screen-grab is all you need to print off or insert into other apps as you require.
A word of warning though – if your students are using iPads brought from home, you must be vigilant that they don’t delete important information from the calendar (like dad’s business meeting) and they delete their own events after the session (or dad might find he has a new business meeting in Antarctica!)
KEY APPS: Master FX
Big thanks to my iPad Educators partner LordLukey for showing me this app as it really is the icing on the cake for this project. Students search for background images relating to their trip then take a photo of themselves to mask onto it. In no time at all they can produce images of themselves standing in front of a landmark or creature. Just save the background from Safari and choose this as the first image in Master FX. Then click the + symbol and take your photo (or import from camera roll.) Next select the Mask tool and colour in the person with the green masking colour. A top tip here is to change the brush size and style so that it is small and not blurred around the edges. Once you've finished masking, the overlayed image can still be resized and moved to the correct place in the image so keep it big whilst masking.
Yet again though I must stress the need to let students lead this - the first girl I showed this to returned to me five minutes later and had actually masked herself onto a seat on a plane from her chosen airline by having a friend take the picture whilst she matched the angle of the seat in the image! I was still reeling from that stroke of genius when she returned again having masked herself into the back of a safari jeep by cropping herself at the waist!
A detailed look at a cross-curricular project that incorporates a whole host of apps and subject areas.