CHAPTER 7: FUN WITH FLICKR: Creating, Publishing, and Using Images Online
Flickr sounds like a great way to introduce students not only to digital images and publishing, but also social conversations, and collabrative learning opportunities. After reading this chapter, I thought to myself all of the cool ways I could use Flickr if I taught an elementary classroom. I also thought of all the great ways I could use Flickr if I taught English, science, history, art, foreign language, etc. These subjects seem so much more versatile in the use of Flickr (especially with learning disabled students and the level of math I am teaching them). I think it would be so cool to use Google maps for history or science. Flickr is also a valuable tool for current events. Often times images are posted right as they happen. The whole notion of having students complete "random writes," or "Flicktion" by having students pick a random photo from Flickr and writing a story about it seems really cool to me. Perhaps I am just not thinking outside the box enough and using my creativity to design a lesson plan using web 2.0 tools such as Flickr to teach a mathematics lesson. In my opinion, math seems like a more difficult subject to teach using these tools for my population of students.
My husband and I just built a fence around our house (not going to lie, he built it a lot more than I did). I have thought about using Flickr to show the steps we took when building the fence, incorporating all the mathematical processes we had to use. I would use the annotation feature in all my pictures documenting all of the tools we used and steps we took to build the fence. Stay tuned, this may just be the lesson that I present. However, I am just not sure yet!
I also teach math, but at the high school level. I agree that math does not easily lend itself to the use of Flickr. Showing the steps you and your husband took, and the math that was involved sounds like it could be an interesting use of Flickr. It could also help show your students how the math that is learned in the classroom is relevant to people's lives. I wish I had a dollar every time I was asked, "When are we ever going to use this?" Goof luck with this if you decide to use it for your lesson plan.
ReplyDeleteI think taking pictures of your fence project and annotating it using Flickr is a fantastic idea! What better way to show real life applications of measuring, area, and perimeter. I had a thought for a project you might want to try with math and Flickr. I don't know if you teach geometric shapes, but you could have your students find pictures of examples of different 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. They could use the annotation component to label them. Another thought I have is if you teach angles and other geometric terms, but you could have the students find pictures that include on Flickr and then describe/label them. I've done this in the past with actual posters, but this would be much more fun!
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