WHAT IS THE TENDENCY IN BIOLOGY VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS? THE CASE OF MARIBOR ISLAND TRAIL

There is no doubt any more that virtual worlds are suitable for school environment. It was shown by various researchers that they can contribute in supplying students with additional information, help them to visualise subjects, respond with answer on demand or even in some cases supplement the real materials. Based on the real experience, the virtual field trail Walk on Maribor Island was developed for biology and natural science classes in lower secondary school. The trail is presented through eight exercises that differentiate not only in theme, but also in difficultness, fun, background idea etc. In spring 2011, 133 eighth grade students worked on the virtual field trail during the biology class. After the work on exercises, students were asked to analyse the exercises regarding the level of difficultness, level of interest and level of proficiency. The main aim of the study was to present the tendency in biology virtual field trips that should be taken into consideration before the development of new exercises.