Welcome to Virtual Explorers

Our Mission

Virtual Explorers promotes and supports science investigation in a project-based learning environment for students worldwide via the Internet, helping them to develop their own understanding and appreciation of biodiversity and conservation.

As teachers, we mentor others in our field to facilitate an active and meaningful learning experience in web-delivered instruction for their own students.

As women, we place emphasis on females as role models and leaders in science and technology in an effort to encourage young women to pursue work in these fields.

As global citizens, we support wildlife conservation that also addresses the needs of local people.

Our Goals

For teachers we:

Model and facilitates a web-delivered, project-based instructional unit.
Provide an opportunity for teachers to develop their own skills in the area of scientific observation and analysis.
Provide an opportunity for teachers to collaborate with scientists engaged in scientific research.

For students we:

Enhance their scientific observation and research skills.
Develop their understanding and appreciation of biodiversity and conservation.
Provide them with an examination of careers in wildlife conservation.
Broaden their cultural perspectives and awareness.
Heighten and promote girls’ self-confidence and self-esteem in the areas of science and technology by providing female role models.
Provide access to expedition information for Spanish-speaking students.

Our Methodology

To accomplish our mission, we partner with wildlife researchers, visit them in the field, and document their research on our web site. While in the field we post to our web site their research data and methodologies, as well as descriptions and images of our daily adventures. Prior to our field visits we post to our web site substantial background information on the research animal, the study site, the host country, and its people.

Additionally, we partner with educational researchers, classroom teachers and others to investigate the effectiveness of our web content for improved student understanding of key science concepts.

Student-centered, project-based instruction is essential for learning to occur. Students of all ages need to relate new information to their own experiences and existing knowledge, and they need to be actively engaged in constructing new knowledge. Units of study should be cross-curricular and teaching methodologies should address students’ varied learning styles. In this model of instruction, topics are presented in such a way as to stimulate the learner’s innate curiosity and are designed to reflect real-life experiences as much as possible. Assessment serves to provide learners with insight into their own learning processes and seeks to help them identify areas for future growth.

To facilitate this type of learning, each Virtual Explorer expedition is organized around essential, open-ended questions that teachers and students can answer for themselves based upon the information and resources provided on the organization web site and other available resources. For each expedition we provide information about the geography and history of the hosting country. Additionally, we provide a cultural context and perspective for students examining complex global conservation issues. Students are encouraged to apply their new knowledge to projects of their own design at the local level.

By providing students with access to wildlife researchers working in the field examining problems without known solutions and/or answers and by asking students to think about these problems and the larger cultural and human issues, we provide a meaningful context for learning about the scientific process in general and wildlife conversation in particular.

Additionally, by providing a real window into the daily life of wildlife researchers, we provide realistic career information for students interested in wildlife conservation.