Elephant’s Fork Elementary School third-grader Aniayh Joyner is at the Great Barrier Reef, with dolphins and sea turtles swimming close enough to touch.

As Brinyah Jones, 8, tours the ancient Roman ruins, she waits for gladiators to dash through the Colosseum.

“This is amazing,” said Joyner, twisting around in a circle with the Google Cardboard viewfinder glued to her face. “When I look through here, I feel like I’m swimming though the sea.”

Google is using Carboard — essentially, a smartphone holder made of cardboard with a special lens that makes things appear in three dimensions — to test its new Google Expeditions, a virtual field trip program for students.

Two Suffolk schools — Elephant’s Fork and Mack Benn Jr. Elementary School — won opportunities to test drive the program for Google. The technology giant, which is expected to launch the educational program later this year, is testing it in schools nationwide now.

Mack Benn students will have a turn on Jan. 28. There is no cost to the school division to participate in the Google Expedition trials, according to Paula Pulley, a Suffolk Public Schools lead instructional resource technology teacher.

“Many of these field trips are to places that many of us would never be able to travel to, even if we have the means,” said Pulley. “All you need for this is an app and the (Cardboard) glasses.

“This is so much more than they could ever get from a textbook and photos.”

Through Google Expeditions, students — sitting in their chairs at Elephant’s Fork — visited Roman ruins, the surface of Mars, the rainforest, Egyptian pyramids, Thailand and even a Civil War battlefield.

Pulley doesn’t know exactly when Google plans to unveil the Expedition app. Google’s Cardboard viewfinders — as well as similar products from other companies — are on the market already but they do not work effectively without the app, Pulley said.

Teachers, on Friday, used a tablet loaded with the Expedition app to control exactly what students see, Pulley said. Looking into glasses equipped with phones synced to the tablet, students can be transported to distant locations, she said.

Students and teachers alike are enthralled with the technology.

“This is fun,” said Jones. “I love being able to go on these different adventures. It’s just like being there.”

Once the technology becomes available on the market, John Littlefield, technology director for Suffolk Public Schools, said the division will evaluate purchasing it for schools.