Virtual Field Trips in Religious Education

Using tools provided by Google (Google Earth, Streetview, Google Tour Builder, Google Maps) teachers and students  can create powerful virtual tools for visiting different sites around the world that can teach different concepts in Religious Education.

CARFLEO has created a virtual tour of World Religions to demonstrate these tools. Go to this World Religion tour to begin to explore the possibilities. You can also open a file directly in Google Earth if the Google Tour Builder platform is not compatible with your computer.

Update: Google will be discontinuing Tour Builder in July 2021 but similar functions are available in newer versions of Google Earth. You can brush up on the basics of creation tools here or try out this tutorial that will walk you through the process of creating and sharing your own Earth project.

To create your own Virtual Tour go to:

You can also use the Photo Sphere feature in Google Maps or other virtual tours to look inside different churches, shrines and cathedrals:

St. Basil’s Church, Ottawa

Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, Guelph

St. Paul’s Basilica, Toronto

Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

Church of the Holy Sepulchre – Jerusalem

Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral, France

Notre Dame de Paris, France

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

St. Peter’s Vatican City

Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome

Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy

Wells Cathedral, UK

St. Nicholas Church Prague

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

Those who have the digital version of Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ for Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 look for Faith Journeys. These use  Google Earth to visit some of the places described in the text.

One comment

  1. Pretty amazing, thank you for sharing.

    Peace, Joy, Hope, Charity, Appreciation and Humility, Steve De Quintal Teacher, St. Mary Catholic Academy, 66 Dufferin Park Ave. Toronto, Ontario M6H-1J6. 416-393-5528 ext. 84293 “that they may have life and have it the full.” “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised” – Proverbs 27:21 ***You can always email but a call or a visit will get a quicker response*** ________________________________

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