Programs
OEI's virtual field experiences are not videos. They are structured scientific encounters built from original fieldwork, designed around real data, and shaped by the same questions working scientists ask in the field.
Each experience is designed for grades 4 through 10, NGSS-aligned, and built to fit a single class period. No specialized equipment required — just a screen.
Field Experience 1: Refugio de Vida Silvestre Bocas del Polochic
Our first field experience takes students into one of Guatemala's most biodiverse freshwater wetland systems — a place where rivers slow into manatee habitat, where migratory birds stop along ancient flyways, and where the relationship between human communities and intact ecosystems plays out in real time.
Fieldwork is complete. We are now building the experience and its classroom materials.
What Students Explore
In this field experience, students will :
Move through 360-degree scenes captured during active fieldwork
Engage with real field observations and data collected on site
Follow a scientific question from observation through interpretation
Connect ecosystem dynamics to human decisions and consequences
Discuss, respond, and think.
What teachers get
Each field trip includes:
A complete NGSS-aligned teacher guide
Discussion questions and formative assessment prompts
Vocabulary support and scaffolded materials for grades 4 through 10
A single class period design with no login, app download, or special hardware required
In the classroom
This experience is designed to fit into a single class period.
Teachers can use it as a standalone lesson or as part of a larger unit on ecosystems, environmental science, or human impacts on the environment.
No special setup is required.
Where we are now
We’ve completed fieldwork and initial documentation in Bocas.
Right now, we’re organizing the material, building the experience, and creating the teacher resources that go with it.
What’s coming
Future OEI experiences will expand into coral reef ecosystems, coastal fisheries, and human-environment systems across the tropics. Each will follow the same model: original fieldwork, real data, story-driven structure, classroom-ready materials.
If you are a scientist, educator, or field researcher interested in contributing a site or collaborating on a future experience, we want to hear from you.
Stay updated
If you’d like to know when this field experience is ready, you can sign up below.
We collaborate with scientists, educators, and organizations to build field-based learning experiences.
If you have a project, dataset, or location that could become part of a future field experience, we’d love to hear from you.