|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Past Themes - Using images in geography
Would you mind taking part in a simple activity? Go on, indulge me - look at the photograph. Give yourself 15 seconds to make sense of it.
My point is a simple one. When we view a still image we cannot help but ask ourselves questions. Then, we try to find information in the picture to answer those questions. Depending on our skill and knowledge we then evaluate our answers and think of more questions.
|
|
A photograph makes us want to know more. With a still image we are forced to think. Unlike a video there are no preceding or subsequent visual clues and there is no commentary. To make sense of a photograph we have to rely on our own internal resources. Enquiry, thinking, problem solving, interpretation and evaluation - it all happens even if we are not consciously aware of it. - What does this photo show? - You might ask your pupils to consider some possible answers and ask them to justify their opinion. Is it (a) a quarry, (b) land being prepared for farming, (c) the site of a recent landslide, or (d) a forestry project?
- Where was the photograph taken? What clues are given by the soil and natural vegetation?
- Why did the photographer take this picture? Was it for a travel brochure or a geography book, or a newspaper or is it a holiday snap?
The above photo was taken in the Seychelles. It shows a landslide - with the profile of thin topsoil and red laterite sub soil clearly visible. Here soil erosion has resulted in mass movement, the reason for this erosion: deforestation.
At the heart of a photograph’s value is the way that it connects us very directly with a location and delivers a sense of place. Geography is about the interaction between people and their environment. Much the same can be said about photography.
You may be surprised at how interested children are in your own travel shots and in talking about their own photographs. Even without technology, a lot is possible. A display of photographs is eye-catching and attractive and it is also bound to provoke interest especially if the children play active part in taking, choosing and annotating the photographs.
The digital age heralds the renaissance of the still image for geography teaching. Teachers and students can easily produce their own photographs. Images can be printed, projected, incorporated and annotated in word processing packages, used in desk top publishing, and of course, electronic presentations.
With a little web space and a little skill it is easy to add rollover hotspots to images that reveal information and questions.
The internet offers an almost overwhelmingly rich source of photographs. The Google image search engine includes literally billions of images, but a word of caution. First, every image belongs to somebody, there is no legal need to display a copyright statement or logo. You must ensure that you have explicit permission to use another person’s photographs. While National Geographic, for instance, is happy for teachers to use their photographs in the classroom, you will risk a court case and a hefty fine if you put one on a website without permission.
The good news is that there is a growing amount of online photographs aimed specifically at UK geography teachers. The sites listed below can save a lot of search time and provide you with the sorts of images that make good teaching resources.
Points to ponder - What better use could be made of the slides, prints, filmstrips, digital and film cameras already in your school?
- Have you thought about adding to the pool of online images through your own website or by contributing to geography websites?
|
Chris Durbin and Kate Russell have produced and manage the fantastic Staffordshire Learning Net geography pages. Follow the link to Geo-images for the latest news about online geography photograph sites.
David Rayner (winner of the Ordnance Survey 2002 Award 'for contributions to excellence in the teaching of geography at secondary level, and to raising the profile of the subject in schools') has created GeoResources, one of the best and most popular teacher sites on the internet. There are masses of links, virtual fieldtrips and a growing collection of photographs.
Gavin Richards has produced this mouth-watering site. Geoexplorer’s wide-ranging and superb. Look out for panoramic 360-degree photographs and a growing collection of images in the gallery.
Martin Oldfield's Suffolk LEA geography site is rated one of the best sites for schools by the QCA subject officer - offers lots of excellent resources and advice. Follow the link for 'All teachers' to find great aerial photo packs.
Ian Murray (author of this article) has set up Geography photos as a site for schools to use their e-Learning Credits to subscribe to a large and growing collection of geography images from around the world.
Use the Google image search facility to find images on the internet. A listing does not mean that an image is freely available to use so check with the copyright owner.
National Geographic photography - superb images available for class use but do not use them on a web page.
QCA's Innovating with Geography includes sections on using images in the phased sections.
Fotosearch has an extensive library of more than 3 million images plus royalty-free clip art, illustrations, video clips, vector maps and background clip art imagery. The database contains thousands of images related to geography including 19,000+ images from National Geographic.
Ian Murray, Geography photos
Find out more about using images in geography in our Visual Geography section. |
|
|
|
|
