The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tour

 Today I took a virtual field trip at The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. A perfect summary of the virtual tour comes form the website itself saying, " The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History virtual tours allow visitors to take self-guided, room-by-room tours of select exhibits and areas within the museum from their desktop or mobile device. Visitors can also access select collections and research areas at our satellite support and research stations as well as past exhibits no longer on display." On the site I clicked on "visit" it took me to a page where on the left side a three lined drop down menu was. I clicked on it and all the way at the bottom was a button label virtual tour. It brought me to a page with five different options of tours. The options were: Permanent Exhibits, Current Exhibits, Past Exhibits, Museums Support Center and Research Stations, Narrated Tours. 

Minerals 1 Exhibit 

The first thing I clicked on was Current Exhibits. Here I found what felt like one hundred hyper links to different exhibits within the museum. In an organized alphabetical list the different exhibits that fell under a subcategory. For example I clicked under Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals, on the hyperlink "Minerals 1" here it took me to the exhibit where there was case of minerals and it was almost like a video game. There were arrows were you could pick which was you wanted to go next and a 3rd map of the museum! It was actually really cool, it feels like you are at the exhibits. In addition, there is also access to narrated tours of exhibits like the, David H. Koch Hall of Fossils- Deep Time, Human Origins, Objects of Wonders, and Sant Ocean Hall exhibits and a few more! These videos walk you through the exhibits providing information on whatever is being showcased. All in all I really enjoyed the site and see it being useful in the classroom one day! There is so much to see and different learning that can be applied and supported in this virtual tour.