Schools from across the world had the opportunity to visit South Africa’s famous Constitution Hill, in Johannesburg, this month without leaving their classrooms by undertaking a virtual field trip that was organ-ised by Google.

Constitution Hill is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
The virtual field trip allowed children to follow a tour through the Constitutional Court, the Old Fort and Number 4 prison, participate in interactive learning sessions and ask questions.

The schools that were involved in the virtual field trip included Siyabonga Secondary, in Illovo, Uplands School, of Whiteriver, St John’s College, of Johannesburg, Allen Glen High School, of Roodepoort, Victoria Park High School, of Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town High.

Classrooms could either join using a Google+ Hangout, or watch live and chat on YouTube. The field trip was part of Google’s worldwide connected classrooms initiative, aimed at exploring historic spots related to South Africa’s 20 years of democracy.

Connected Classrooms form part of this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition, which invites children to create a Google doodle on the theme of ‘South Africa of my Dreams’.

The winning doodle will be displayed on the home page of Google South Africa and the winning school will receive a R100 000 technology grant. While the children get creative, teachers can use the classroom activities provided to better understand how to use technology as a teaching aid.

Other than Connected Classrooms, the activities also include a series of lesson plans developed in conjunction with learning company Pearson.
“It has been exciting working with Pearson to bring South Africa’s history alive online, and bring together children from around the world to experience it. With the Internet, teachers have access to more resources than ever to explore our culture and history, and foster collaborative learning,” Google country marketing manager for South Africa Elizma Nolte said.
Although these are the first Connected Classrooms to take place in South Africa, globally, they have already allowed schools to take educational trips to the White House, in the US, learn how to make cheese in Wensleydale, UK, and explore the tundra with polar bear conservation group Polar Bears International.

The next virtual field trip will take place on October 13 and will visit Vilakazi street in Soweto, Johannesburg – the only street once home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates.