What is the best way to use digital cameras? Today, digital cameras are used for a wide variety of tasks. Most of us probably have cameras to take pictures of our families and friends, but there is now a whole new educational purpose for this form of technology. Now, digital cameras are even being used in school. In the article "Quick! Get The (Digital) Camera!" in Education World, Craig Nansen, a real technology coordinator for a public school, shares his story about the use of digital photography in the classroom.
In the article, Craig shares how digital photography was used in his school. Teachers in his school use digital photography in the classroom by taking pictures of students, their projects, activities, events, and field trips. On a field trip a student can take multiple digital photos. Later, the digital photos can be combined to make a slide show or movie. Also, at Craig's school, students wanted to put a web page together about the area that they live in which was a very historical place. Students wanted to make a web page with some of the town's historical background so they got pictures from the past from newspapers, scanned them, and created the web page. The photos allowed the students to experience a brief flash back of the area that they live in.
*Other ways to use digital cameras in the classroom (both from the article and ideas that we came up with):
-Write a class novel and illustrate it with live-action photos of your students
-Take pictures of each child's eyes, nose, feet, or mouth only. It would be really fun for kids to do. To integrate this activity into the lesson plans, perhaps the students could photograph animals or other elements relevant to the topic in the same way they were photographed.
-Document the growth of classroom plants or animals with daily or weekly photos.
-Take a photograph of each student at the beginning and end of the school year. Kids would get a kick out of this as every kid waits for the day they are older.
-Have students go on a photographic scavenger hunt, taking pictures of the objects they find rather than retrieving the objects themselves. Maybe students could do something like this if they are on a field trip like a museum or at an arts complex.
-Turn "student of the week" into "employee of the week" by hanging the students picture on the wall in addition to special weekly privileges
-Take pictures of the children and post them on their cubby or desk, so they have an idea of where they sit or where their things are
-Take a picture of a few things (ie cake, pizza, hotdog, phone) then have the students relate and/or categorize the pictures -Capture events such as a fire department coming to school to teach about fire safety (one of our group members actually got to take the pictures for a teacher while doing evaluations)
*Quick digital camera tips:
-purchase inexpensive cameras for student use and a good more expensive camera for teacher use
-let students work with the images - - cropping, editing, ect.
-consider having pictures printed locally at a one hour photo center - - it's cheaper
-have at least one computer set up with Photoshop Elements
*Concerns when using digital cameras:
-Students must give permission to be photographed (privacy issue)
-Damage to the camera, so teach students how to handle the camera since digital cameras can be "relatively expensive"
-Make sure you discuss appropriate pictures, sometimes students get silly when in front of a camera
*Good things about digital cameras:
-Don't have to get film developed! or pay for film
-Can instantly delete pictures
-Instantly download them to the computer
-Can use them for observation and documentation (science fair projects)
-Not all students can draw or paint so photography is another way to be artistic with school projects
-Students love to take pictures!
-Digital cameras give another perspective on things: "Looking through the eye of a lens gives another perspective that is so important when looking for the 'big picture' or zooming in on a detail. Both viewpoints can be a starting point to draw conclusions, test a hypothesis, or creatively interpret what we see." Digital photography has not only opened more doors to activities, but it has also expanded the ways a teacher can evaluate students. Pictures allow a teacher to see how active or constructive a student was while working.
In addition to the article found in Education World, we found these articles interesting as well:
19 comments:
Nice job Kristen! I felt like you were talking to me instead of reading (I wish I could do this when writing)! Your summary offered some really neat ways to incorporate digital cameras into lesson plans. I love the variety of uses as well. So of the ideas are more serious while others just seem silly and fun! I am going to remember the one about taking pictures of the kids noes, eyes and ect.... This sounds fun!
This was a really well written article. I never knew that digital cameras could be used in the classrooms for such a variety of things! I thought the concept of taking the children's picture at the beginning and end of the school year is a great idea. Kids do love to see themselves grow. I also liked the idea of turning students of the week into more of employees of the week, by putting their picture on the wall. Great job!
I really enjoyed this article, it made me think about the picture in my house of my kids feet, eyes and hands taken at age three of both. They are only 3, and 5 now so I sure I will enjoy it more a lot later. It is also a good way for kids to see themselves grow throughout the year. I have found in my University Colloquium class it is a good way to keep a record of class field trips and it makes it so I don't need to take notes.
I really enjoyed reading this post. I think you did a good job adding useful information. It was very informative. I like the section with ideas from the article and ideas that you came up with. You had some fun, creative and interesting ideas!! I also think it was a good idea to add tips and concerns. There are always some things to worry about with kids and electronics and it was great that you informed us of some of those obstacles! Great job!!
Good job group One! Your article was extremely well written and was easy to understand. You gave good examples of how people can use the camera in the classroom and work it into teaching. It was cute how you talked about how students would feel more compelled to participate with the hopes of becoming employees of the week.
I really like the idea of taking pictures of the children's eyes, nose and mouth and kinda making it like a matching game. This will be one of the activities I keep in my journal of things I would like to encorporate into my classroom. Great Job!
This post was very well written. I learned a lot from the information you provided from the article and the things you're group came up with. I really liked the "quick digital camera tips." The tip about letting students work with the images with cropping, editing, etc. is something teachers should really do. It allows the students to be hands-on with the task at hand and teaches them even more technology skills.
I like the tips given about the camera. I hadn't even thought about the privacy issue. It would definatly be an important thing to bring up and take care of.
I really liked how this article was written. You guys did a really great job on it and discussing the importance of how a camera should be used in the classroom with the students. I really like the point about teaching the students about different faces to make and when to be silly and when not to be silly and also what is appropriate. Good job guys. Now let's go and take some pictures...:)
okay, so this is erin fobb...i cant figure out wny im showign up as group 5...but....
i found the posting very informative, and helpful in thinking of waysto use the digital camera in the classroom.
i also must congratulate "kristen and the rest of group one" on their writing skills...quite journalistic!
Very good job. I really like the ideas of using the camera with the younger kids. The use of the camera to photograph the kids at the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year is a great idea along with the watching plants and animals grow through out the year with the photography. I like your ideas about inexpensive ways to make it possible in the classroom.
I thought it was cool in your summary how students wanted to make their own website about where they live. Also, it was neat how you guys listed different ways to use a digital cameras in the classroom, and added your own ideas in. Great job!
Awesome job, group one! I like how you started with the ways digital cameras are used today and how you added a list of the different ways students can use them. The matching game and seeing how much the students grew over the year sound like such fun activities for teachers to do with their classes. You guys did a wonderful job!
I like this article because it is very useful... the tips are helpful but it also mentions concerns and positives for digital imagery... this article was a good choice... I also like how the summary and other information came before the actual article... it gives the reader a feel for what is to come.
I thought it was very creative how your group came up with ideas of how to use digital cameras in the classroom. Your idea of taking a picture of the "student of the week" and hanging it on the wall caught my attention because I observed a 4th grade class recently and the teacher I was observing did this while I was there. She took a picture on her digital camera and then said she would later post it up on the wall.
Awesome article. I really loved the other ideas of how to use the digital camera in the classroom, such as the scavenger hunt for a fun way for students to learn. Very informative article. Thank you!
Awesome Job Team One! I love the idea of using photography and digital cameras in the classroom especially for projects! I liked all of your ideas on ways to use digital cameras. It was also great that you pointed out some quick digital camera tips and also some of the concerns! Great Work Team One!!
Wow! This was a great article. It had some great ideas for the digital camera and it kept me interested the whole time. Good job guys.
Kristen i really enjoyed your article mostly becausase it was to the point. You made some really good arguments as to why digital cameras should be used as a educational device. I liked that you had a photo of a digital cameras, but thought that maybe you could have included some photos of students using the camera or a picture showing it being used for education. One of your ideas I loved was your students of the week idea! I will probably take that idea into concideration for my students when i have a classroom!! =)
Your group did a great job and you put it together really nice!!
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