Today I woke up, made myself breakfast, and visited the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Insitute, all without leaving my couch. What a morning! The National Zoo has six live cams that feature an inside look at their animals and the link to their website can be accessed here. As I started my day, I was curious to see what daily routines these animals also had.

Animal Insights

The Andean Bear Cub and Cheetah Cub cam were my first clicks. These animals seemed to be more active during the day, as none of them were in their den to be shown in the live cam feed. I wondered what they were doing and why they do not feature outdoor live feeds. It could be because they are carnivores and to avoid that scene, it is possible that the zoo deliberately chose their den areas for cam feeds instead. 

However, the Giant Panda cam showed me what one panda loves to do during the day, sunbathe and nap! We would get along very well. I captured a screenshot of one panda finding ultimate rest and relaxation.

Moving on with my tour, I then watched the Naked Mole Rat cam. I was very hesitant to view this feed for many reasons. Ultimately, I did not think these animals were worth watching nor appealing to look at upon first thought based on the reputation I held that was attached to their name. But I found my attitude completely changed towards this animal after a few minutes of observation.

I watched a naked mole rate munch on his meal of corn and lettuce and peer out to the zoo visitors from his viewing box. The second cam I watched was positioned in the outside view of a transportation connection tube. I watched the little guy almost dance back and forth in the tube for a very long time. It was as entertaining as watching tv. After viewing these cam feeds for some time, I came to see naked mole rats behaving very similarly to traditional hamsters. Moreover, the close-up scenes gave me a more intimate look at how this animal behaves and what they look like. I have never seen an actual naked mole rat in action, so this was very new and cool to me! And they were not nearly as unapproachable as I originally thought.

Final Thoughts

After my experiencing my first virtual field trip, I am filled with inspiration and ideas on how I can implement this activity in my future social studies classroom. Not only does this activity add variety to a student’s routine, it also allows for greater learning outcomes, curiosity, and classroom conversations. Likewise, virtual field trips allow students an opportunity to form real connections to what they are learning to real-life situations and material. In the future, I foresee my fifth-grade students learning about the forms of government and taking a virtual field trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, or the virtual Chichen Itza tour when we cover ancient civilizations. The possibilities to achieve more meaningful and relatable content that is taught in the school curriculum are vast and bright thanks to exploring the world of virtual tours.