Across+the+Curriculum

Science Many of science's processes and phenomenon are too small, too fast, too big, too slow, or too far away to conceptualize. Use an image to **generate questions** about scientific principles. The photo to the left could pose the following questions... Why is the exhaust plume bent in the middle? //(Answer: wind speeds vary at different altitudes)// Why is the exhaust plume near the horizon dark red, while the plume at higher altitudes appears to be white? //(Answer: differential dispersion of blue light by tiny particles in the atmosphere)//

Have students find more graphic examples of these principles and create a class collection.

Have students create **stop-motion movies** of natural processes such as metamorphosis from a series of images they take or gather from the web.


 * Comparing Maps**: Have students take a digital photo of an old map and a new one. Use image editing software to change the transparency of the new map, and layer it over the old map (You may have to use a tool such as Photoshop or GIMP to do this). Have students compare physical and other geographical elements. This would be a great activity to do on an interactive whiteboard.

Have students **compare historical and current topographic map** (many available at www.http://digitalpicsforteachers.wikispaces.com/Across+the+Curriculum#topozone.com to predict floodplains. Have students analyze what problems maybe created when different areas (such as water treatment plants) are flooded?

Create an **electronic flip book** of a solar eclipse. Gather images of a solar eclipse by videotaping the real thing (or if you are not as fortunate to have a solar eclipse occur serendipitously while you are teaching this lesson, gather the images from the web or a textbook). You can use lots of different tools to do this - movie maker, imovie, powerpoint, etc. Future Total Solar Eclipses can be found here: www.earthview.com/timetable/futureTSE.htm

**Math** Really? Math? We can use digital images to support math by creating digital story problems and do mathematical analyses of images. So, yes! Math!
 * Analyzing slopes:** Students may use various images of rooftops and use a program such as teh Geometer's Sketchpad to construct lines and calculate slope. Create a slideshow of the roofs and slopes, as well as their geographic locations. Students may talk about how the environment, building cost, and city codes affect the design of roofs.
 * Finding and Using Vanishing Points:** Import various works of art from different time periods into the Geometer's Sketchpad. Draw lines to identify and analyze the location of vanishing points.


 * Estimating Areas of Irregular Figures**: Students take pictures of leaves or other irregular items, and then import these images into Geometer's Sketchpad to estimate the areas of the leaves. Students may then check their estimations by using the calculation features of Sketchpad.




 * Proportional Reasoning**: The picture contains the problem and the solution. (hint: estimate by using the standard 8.5 by 11 piece of paper next to the boy). Once students get used to doing these sorts of problems, let them create their own story problems. Talk about how a criminologist might use a gas station video to determine a subject's height.


 * Digital Story Problems** : Student or Teacher created story problems that illustrate concepts as simple as going shopping at the grocery store to complex stories regarding real live phenomenon such as snow, height, and estimation. Share the students' stories in a collection with the class. Use a variety of tools such as voicethread, photostory, movie maker, imovie, jumpcut, PowerPoint, jing, or any others that allow the use of voice and images.

Language Arts Digital Images offer a unique bridge to writing. They also serve as scaffolding to make writing and reading more accessible.
 * Visual Think Alouds**: Students read a text, then create a collage of visual images that illustrate their "mental movie" of the story. Students can draw, paint, scan images, create digital collages, or find images on the web. They will storyboard and pair a narrative voice to the visual elements using a movie editing software (imovie, movie maker, jumpcut, etc.) screencasting software (jing, camtasia, screencast, etc.), or PowerPoint.


 * Logographic Cues**: Students take images, gather, or draw and scan visual cues. Students use these cues to help them visually annotate text.


 * Vocabulary Pictures**: Students take pictures of images or gather images that represent a vocabulary word. A collection of these images may then be shared to form a shared visual library for all students.


 * Visual Literacy Narratives:** Students use a variety of still images, movies, found and created images to construct a digital story to communicate their experiences as readers and writers. These are perfect for portfolios, peer review and reflections. Students may continue to revise their story throughout the semester/year.

Social Studies Images offer students the opportunity to engage personally and critically with current and historical information. 21st century students also need to "develop expertise with the increasingly sophisticated entertainment media that address us on a multisensory level, affecting teh way we think, feel, and behave." (Alliance for a Mediate Literate America, n.d.).
 * Whose News?:** Images may be easily altered after they are taken. How do we know what is real? Students report on an event or issue that is occurring at school (dance, bullying, etc.). Students then write two different versions of the same story. One story should limit the student's bias, and the other story should include the student's bias. Students may use image editing software in the biased story. Both stories should be reported as "factual accounts." The class works together to construct two newspapers using Publisher or another publishing software. Students then are encouraged to read the two papers and discuss how the images and bias affects the stories and paper as a whole. Key Question: Some photographers argue that EVERY photograph is manipulated so manipulated photography is a redundancy - is this true?
 * Historical Documentaries**: Use the resources provided on this wiki, or other historical images and have students analyze travel and city scenes from the early 1900s. Ask them questions about their impressions of the photographs, specific details, and people. Have students make inferences and raise questions based on the pictures. Students should then go out and take pictures (with cell phones or cameras or other device) of modern day city streets and transportation. Try to get pictures of the same city if possible. Students may then construct a visual historical narrative, create a Ken Burns style documentary, or write a creative story based on the images. Give them specific guidelines for their narration, such as: describe the pictures, describe the process of historical excavation, what has happened since the original photograph was taken?

Bull and Bell, Teaching with Digital Images