Working With Digital Images
Teachers will have students work individually and in small groups to create projects using digital images to demonstrate what they have learned. Students will then share projects with an authentic audience beyond the walls of the classroom. Working with images is a nonlinguistic representation that often leads to deeper understanding of a topic. So much of the work we do in schools is focused on developing language skills, but it is important that students also learn how to create a message using images. Students will learn that they can use digital images to better understand concepts and ideas and demonstrate what they have learned.
Learning goal:
I can search for digital images, save them, and use the images in a project.
Novice: Searching for Digital Images
This lesson covers searching for digital images, saving them, and using the images in a project. Students will use voice and choice to select the best resource to create a project. The purpose of searching for digital images, saving them, and using the images in a chosen project is to provide students with an authentic opportunity to share their voice through digitally enhanced projects. Students can use these skills in all types of multimedia projects in all content areas. We encourage students to collaborate in groups as they learn a new app, website, or program.
Process: Searching Online for Images
To complete the following six lesson steps, we recommend you use a search engine; our favorite is Google (www.google.com). If you prefer, you can adapt this process for use with a variety of other options including Microsoft Bing (www.bing.com) or Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com). In the tech tips, we have included other student-friendly search engines.
Use a search engine to complete the following six steps for this lesson.
1. Tell students to open the search engine and search for a curriculum-related topic.
2. From the results screen, have them select Images to display only images.
3. Students can narrow the search if needed using more specific terms or filter features, and then they can select an image.
4. Tell students they should not save by right-clicking the image from this screen. This could result in a low-resolution image that may look pixelated or fuzzy when placed in a project. Instead, they should first click on the image so that it expands to fill most of the screen.
5. Once students click through to the larger image, they should right-click on and save this high-resolution image. On a tablet, students should hold their finger on the image and save it.
6. To address copyright issues, students should also copy the image’s web address and paste that link into a document for recording project resources.
TECH TIPS
Students can use the following additional search engines.
Following are instructions for saving images on different devices.
Connections
You can apply this lesson to different content areas in the following suggested ways.
• English language arts: Groups of students can create a retelling of a picture book from a different point of view. The students make the ebook with digital images they have found online.
• Mathematics: Groups of students can search for pictures of real-life examples of three-dimensional shapes.
• Social science: Students can search for a primary-source document, saved as an image, and insert this image into a project. These examples can be used in a final project.
• Science: Students can search for images online to illustrate a science topic.
• Art: Students can search for, save, and insert into a presentation different images from one artist.
• Physical education: Students can search for images specific to a sport or activity they do in class. They can play the slideshow of images on a screen outside the school gym so other students in the school can see them.
Learning goal:
I can annotate a photo to enhance the image and demonstrate my learning.
Operational: Annotating Digital Photos
The purpose of this lesson is to have students demonstrate their thinking by annotating an image using a variety of technology tools. Students use higher-level thinking in this type of multimedia creation, or mashing up of media, as they add details and information to an existing image. Students will focus on adding text, labels, or other elements to a base image to show deeper thinking