Advice on Virtual Fieldtrips

Hop on the World Wide Web and take a tour of Paris through the WebMuseum. Visit the Ralph Bunche School in Harlem or the Atlantic View Elementary School in Nova Scotia to learn what kids there have to say about their neighborhoods. Isn't this what makes the Internet worthwhile?

Well, yes and no.

While a lot of Web pages are nothing more than info-junkyards or the electronic equivalent of vanity plates and graffiti, many sites present truly interesting resources for kids and grown-ups. Some are educational. Some offer good clean fun. Some give your children a glimpse into communities far from home. But it's a mistake to assume that these cyberspace explorations constitute real experiences of people and place. When you and your kids "visit" a museum you haven't really stepped foot in a gallery. When you drop into a school, you haven't really interacted with other kids. In fact, you haven't left your home. you've had a machine-generated experience, nothing more, nothing less.

And there's the rub. It would be sad if our kids came away from a virtual museum tour (the equivalent of a slim printed brochure) thinking, "Oh, we've done that place." Or finished reading about the experiences of far-away children (again the equivalent of a scant few printed pages) and said, "Oh, we've met those people, we know what their lives are like. Now let's 'meet' some other folks."

So is there any value to such virtual encounters with the real world? Yes, if you consider them to be starting points for learning and human interaction. That's where YOU, as a parent, come in. You might not be ready to fly to Paris tomorrow, but you can certainly organize a trip to your local library to learn about things you saw on the virtual tour, or you can visit your local museum to find artwork related to the French city. Likewise, you can use cyberspace pen pal encounters to encourage your kids to be involved with issues and problem resolution in your own community. That's the real value the Net holds for parents and kids.

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