Digital Photography in the Classroom
A guide for classroom teachers

 

Science

• Have an Online Science Fair - Have your kids perform an experiment just like they would for a traditional science fair. Require that they take photos of the steps (or at the very least, the variables) with a digital camera and then use them to create a web page instead of the traditional backboard presentation. I had my students do this a couple years ago and the results were awesome. So awesome that Science and Children magazine published my description of it!

This photo shows the variable for Max's marble drop experiment.	Here Max is showing part of his procedure. He dropped the different sized marbles into the container to see which one fell the fastest.

 

• Teach kids about variables - You can photos of experiments in years past to teach about variables. Check out this blog post that tells how.
  
• Do a nature project - If your school is located near a natural area like a forest, stream, or pond, then take your students over teach them about the nearby ecosystem. While there, snap a few digital photos (or even better, have your students take them) and then have the kids create a multimedia project around them.

  Much has been written about the importance of exposing kids to nature. Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods is the book that inspired me. I have also written a couple entries in my blog about it.
  

Poison ivy: one of the many different plants students can encounter in the great outdoors.

• Taking photos of student work to use at later times - If you have a digital camera, then you can be taking photos of students working--doing experiments and other investigations--and use them at other times to review concepts.

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Math

The NCTM theme standard Connections states that students should be able to connect mathematical concepts to the outside world. Teachers who use digital cameras can get students out of the classroom and into their environment to capture real-world examples of mathematical concepts.

• Geometry in the school yard - Perhaps the most common example of this that I have found is having students find geometric concepts around the school grounds. Students can easily find examples of parallel lines (sidewalk cracks, power lines), right angles (bricks on a wall), shapes, geometric solids, and on and on.

• Symmetry in Nature - Symmetry is everywhere you look in nature. If you look at plants and animals, you will find that they have symmetrical body shapes and patterns. If you divide a leaf in half, you will often find that the one half has the same shape as the other half. Send your students out into the school yard to find examples of symmetry.

Radial and bilateral symmetry

• Ratios and fractions - It's easy to find a group of objects (or students), take a photo of them and then create ratios and fractions with them. For instance, a group of five boys and two girls has a ratio of five boys to two girls. Take a photo of this group and use to teach the concept.

• Writing Prompts - Digital photos make great writing prompts. Check out this explanation from the Future of Math website on using digital photos as writing prompts in blog entries.

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Language Arts

• Writing Prompts - Photos make great writing prompts. You can carry a digital camera around yourself looking for interesting photos to use as prompts or you can have the kids do it themselves.
  • Flickr has all kinds of groups that formed around the idea of building a story around photos. Click here for a treasure trove of ideas for creative writing around digital photos.

   

• Setting - Have your kids walk around the school building looking for settings. I had my kids walk around the school building several years with a digital camera and take photos of places that they thought were interesting. I then uploaded the photos to my computer, posted them to a webpage, and had the kids practice their descriptive writing. You could stop there or take it a step further by having them create a short story, poem, or whatever else they want based on that setting. You could also have your students search for photos from the Internet for ideas on setting.

Link to this site