Calling the wild to the Web: virtual electronic field trips are an inexpensive way for people to explore the benefits of parks

Parks & Recreation, May, 2005

Educating children about parks no longer has to be a battle for grant money and resources. These days, providing a wild experience is as easy as surfing the Web.

Since 2001, Yellowstone National Park has embarked on an electronic fieldtrip project, Windows Into Wonderland (WIW), which provides dozens of free "eTrips" for children of all ages and abilities. Open to anyone with access to a computer, WIW creates multi-media presentations about the wildlife, ecology, biology and geology of Yellowstone Park. Funded by nine private partners, the Internet classroom currently has 12 eTrips available on its Web site, www.windowsinto wonder land.org, and is planning six more through 2006.

"A lot of people have heard of Yellowstone but very few people will get to come here," says Janet Ambrose, Yellowstone's formal education program manager. "Through the electronic field trips, we want to bring the resources as best we can to living rooms and classrooms so that [anyone] can connect and have a Yellowstone experience."

Since the project's inception, people in 140 countries have visited the Web site, and teachers in all 50 states have registered with the site.

Measuring the impact of the project is challenging, but Ambrose can say that since she created eTrips, other Web site-oriented park programs have launched for parks nationwide. She has also received numerous e-mails from students and teachers who have enjoyed the series.

For example, a fifth-grade teacher who took her class on the "Fire Ecology" field trip, which explored the role of fire in the Yellowstone ecosystem, wrote in an e-mail, "Most students in this district will never have the opportunity to travel to Yellowstone. Also, most of these students have never experienced the crackle of a campfire or a fireplace. Now, thanks to your eTrips, they have been able to experience fire in a valuable way."

Each eTrip is developed by Ambrose and her staff, who choose topics based on school curriculum and suggestions from sponsors. The types of programs can range from slideshow presentations to complex animation, depending on the funding.

In "Zooming in on Hayden Valley," Ambrose and her staff take participants on a science-fiction adventure, where aliens disguised as children explore the geological explosions in Hayden Valley. "Zooming" was sponsored by Canon, which also sponsored "To Eat or Be Eaten," a classic "who-done-it" mystery about a missing elk.

"Children's expectations are pretty high," Ambrose says. "While this is an educational project, ... if we can entertain the children at the same time, that's what we want to do."

One of the most recent eTrips, "The Wolves of Yellowstone: Legacy, Legend and Recovery," launched in March, and was the culmination of several sponsors. Illustration, professional voiceovers and multi-media features for all learning abilities were some of the techniques employed. On average, each eTrip costs $65,000 to produce, and Ambrose says WIW will continue to operate so long as there is funding.

Even with the success of eTrips, Ambrose does not believe these Web excursions will substitute for the real experience. "It's important to plan their visits, and this will, but this goes into detail about the resources that are here," she says.

This month, Ambrose will unveil a new eTrip, "Geyser Quest," sponsored by the National Science Foundation. "Geyser Quest" will explore Yellowstone's hydrothermal features.

For more information about WIW, please visit www.windowsintowonderland.org or call Janet Ambrose at (307) 344-2253.