There are hundreds of ways to use digital cameras in the classroom. It all depends on how far you’re willing to think outside the box… or would that be frame? Focus your lens on learning with these five creative projects.
Photography 101
Goodbye darkroom – and hello digital cameras, tablets and smartphones! Now that photography has gone digital, it’s easy and cheap to teach students the basics. Create a lesson plan that explores the key components of photographic composition, including light, line, angle, and framing. Emphasize the importance of creativity and encourage children to view the world in new and different ways.
Decorate the classroom with digital photos
From canceling field trips to shuttering after-school programs, budget cuts have a negative affect on education. Many teachers have to use money out of their own pockets to decorate their classrooms. Why not launch a DIY project and have students decorate the classroom with their own photographs? Photo editing websites such as a PicMonkey.com can help students add text, frames, fonts, and filters to their images.
Create an end-of-the-year slideshow
Who says yearbooks are the sole property of high school seniors? Have students use digital cameras to highlight the classroom’s biggest events (we’re talking about science fairs, bake sales, and school plays). At the end of the year, have the children create a greatest hits compilation.
Illustrate stories and poems with digital photos
Not all children like to draw, color, or paint. Create a lesson plan that prompts creativity through digital photography. Read a story or poem and have students create a visual display of what they hear and feel.
Create family scrapbooks
Yes, it’s a homework project that kids won’t mind taking home. Have students take pictures of their families, and then use class time to create fun, family scrapbooks.
Digital photography is a powerful cross-curricular tool. It’s time to put these digital devices to work in the classroom.
