BP5_110902_Using Flickr in the Classroom

I think the use of digital cameras is a necessity in any classroom. Of course, depending on the class, the activities may have to be changed. I have several ideas on how to use cameas and photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picassa may be used in education.

1) With a chaperone per group, break the students up into groups of 3-5 for a scavenger hunt. Give all the groups the same list of objects to find, but make sure the list is generic and there will be multiples of the object. An example list would be "green", "circle", "shiny", "sport", etc. Have the scavenger hunt outside on the school grounds. This way the groups can spread out and come up with many different versions of the same list. When the students find an object, have them take a picture with it. After they come back in the classroom, have them upload the images to the photo sharing website of your choice, then have them tag the pictures with the category. To easily manage the images, you could use a group in Flickr or a collaborative album in Picassa. Once all images are uploaded, view them on the big screen and discuss the differences in the images even though they are the same categories.

2) Have a student be the photographer for the day any time there is an event in the class. Anything from class party to a field trip, choose a different student to photograph the day. As you go along, make a digital scrapbook for the class. At the end of the year, burn it to disk for all the parents to keep.

3) Whenever your class is studying geography or specific places, have them find photos of those places on Flickr. It will be amazing what they will come up with because it is done by tags. Also, having them find images will give them a visual to go along with the place.

These are just a few ideas on how to use photo sharing in the classroom. I hope to have more soon.  Below are the photos I have uploaded to the Flickr group.

Category: Education

This picture is the East pediment on the Parthenon from the acropolis

 of Athens, Greece. I believe this photo fits into the category of

education because the Greeks had a major influence on the

 education system. Also, Socrates spoke on the acropolis

 many times and most of his teachings taught basic

thinking skills.

Category: About Me (Student)

I have only ever been a student so I chose that as my "professional"
category. I chose this photo because it had a huge impact on my
life as a student. I did an internship in Wellington, New
Zealand in the summer of 2008 and this is the
Parliament building. I learned more from
that internship than I did in
four years of college.

Category: About Me (General)

This is a picture of pig and duck. They travel with me pretty

much everywhere I go. They solve all the issues of

bordemn in planes, cars, trains, everything.

They have their own scrapbook

 of all the places they've

 accompanied me.