Flat Harry goes to Sloss Furnace!

Harry wanted to learn more about Birmingham history while he was staying with Amy, so he decided to take a virtual tour of some local landmarks. He was really interested in an old factory area that he heard was popular during Halloween. There are lots of youtube videos, picture slideshows, and other information online about Sloss Furnaces. By visiting the Sloss Furnace website, Harry found lots of pictures and a history of when the furnace began and when the museum officially opened. By searching on youtube, there was a great video that showed pictures of the different areas of Sloss Furnace along with pictures from the past. This video was narrated with information about why the Furnace was important to Birmingham, how each area of the furnaces does, and the process/steps of the furnace. There was also another walkthrough video that is silent but shows what it feels like to walk around the big metal areas of the furnace.

It would be great to use this virtual fieldtrip in place of a full-scale field trip because it's free, takes less time and resources, and it can be done inside regardless of the weather. In my classroom, I could choose certain parts of the 13 minute video that I wanted to focus on or highlight, and I could pause and restart areas as needed. We could also split the virtual field trip into multiple days as we focus on different parts of Alabama history or learning about factories. Although it would be wonderful to have students visit in person so they could understand the scale of the factory, having a virtual visit is still effective.



Resources:
Sloss Furnace website: http://slossfurnaces.com/history/years-following-the-civil-war/
walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAE1rQJoWPA
narrated history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWigNVMMLdQ&feature=youtu.be