Photo-Sharing Assignments for the Classroom

Using Flickr & Picasa in the Classroom

Telling Stories
Students in an English class could take or find five photos of their choice and write a story about those five photos. Photos could be uploaded to a photo-sharing site, tagged, and linked to a blog with the story. The photos can also be posted to the blog.

History or Art Classes
Have students take five photos of different buildings around town that represent different architectural styles or historical time periods. Post the photos to a photo-sharing site and tag the photos using terms and ideas from class. Email a link to the teacher, so s/he can view the photos. Teachers can give additional feedback and insight.

Search for Photos Related to Class
Use Picasa Web Albums or Flickr to find images related to class. Encourage students to document their search, so they should tell which photo-sharing site they used, which terms they entered the search box, and the results they got back. Have them identify one image that at first seemed unrelated, but later proved to be relevant. Tell them to explain and/or analyze what happened. Example: I searched for images about “Abraham Lincoln” in Flickr. Naturally, it made sense to find images of Pres. Lincoln in Mt. Rushmore and at the Lincoln Memorial, but a small headstone did not appear relevant. Once I clicked on this image, I saw it was Dred Scott’s headstone. The photo included an explanation of who he was and his impact on American history—that his court case helped Abraham Lincoln win the presidential election.

Take Photos of Things Related to Class
Students in a chemistry class could look for items such as corroded batteries, rusted nails or cars, fizzing alka seltzer, burning matches, etc. With the photos they could also bring questions about how it works. This could be turned into a show-and-tell assignment that each student could do once a semester.
Math and history classes could easily do this as well. Those in math classes could take pictures of cones, cylinders, squares, building, cash registers, computers, leaves, etc. They could highlight some mathematical principle to describe their items. History students could take pictures of plaques, monuments, or statues that help the community remember events or individuals from the past. They could also photograph items owned by family or friends that hearken back to different times: army uniforms, classic cars, wagon wheels, etc.
Much of learning involves language acquisition and understanding how knowledge fits within the larger context of life. The photos prompt students to find images relevant to what they are learning in the classroom. Once they have found or taken photos, they can write or talk about the decisions they made. This can be a mechanism that aids students in developing written, speech, evaluation, and analytical skills.

Use photo sharing to:
• teach students how to search for royalty free photos for project (creative commons licensing in Flickr is great for this!)
• post a picture of the day for students to comment on
• create a montage of photos on a curricular topic
• create an online photo journal with students to capture a field trip or special event
See this wiki.