Images

Teaching with Images

1. To provide a visual to support a concept you are teaching
   Photographs can illustrate ideas. They say "this is what I'm talking about," or "this is what it looks like." Photos can help us create an accurate mental image of an idea.


2. To document something
   Class photos, pictures of a special event, pictures of student artwork or assignments,--all help us to document history. They are a record of things that happened in your class.


3. To design and create
   Students can use photographs to create posters and artwork to design t-shirts, or to produce other creative projects.


4. To give presentations
   Students can us photographs to support presentations, using PowerPoint or producing slide shows.


5. To publish
   Digital photographs can be added to books or illustrated reports that are created on computers using desktop publishing software or even simple word processors.


6. To see through your students' eyes
   Put a digital cameral in your students' hands and let them capture what they see. You can learn what they find important in their communities, or find out what they notice in the environment. Interview the
students about the pictures they took to learn more.


7. To capture data
   Use cameras to collect
information. students can find geometric shapes in nature; they can take pictures of the plants that grow in their neighborhood park; they can look for examples of gothic architecture. Whatever they are studying, they can capture visual images with a camera and bring them back to the classroom for examination.


8. To make visible
   Some things are invisible to the naked eye, either because they are too large to see (like the solar system) or too small
to see (like germs). Photographs can put these things into a format that we can see and understand, by either reducing them, or magnifying them.


9. To give access to things far away
   Some things are simply too far away for our students to experience them. Photographs can bring nature to inner city students; they can bring other cultures into the classroom; they can help students understand different ecosystems than the one in which they live. Photos help bring the world closer.



10. To compare and contrast visual elements
    Sometimes differences and similarities aren't easy to notice. Photographs give us a way to examine the visual aspects of a subject in detail. By comparing tow or more photographs, we can identify ways in which tow subjects are the same and how they are different.



11. To teach about visual literacy
    What are the elements of good visual design? How can we "read" an image? Do photographs tell the truth? How can photographs be used to manipulate us? How can we use photographs to make a point, persuade, sell an idea?



12. To teach about technology
    We can use photography to teach about using a camera as well as to teach computer skills. Students will need to know how to operate the camera, how to make the camera talk to the computer, how to open images in a photo-editing program, how to manipulate photos, how to print pictures, and how to insert the images into other documents.



13. To teach about photography
    What makes a good picture? How do we decide on photo-angles? How does lighting affect our pictures? How can we manipulate the foreground, background, subject? How do we take action shots? and more..