I usually use Google to search for images I need for lessons or other purposes, but Flickr is working its way into my heart! At first, I tried to take my journey with Flickr seriously and only look up good solid school content. That quickly turned into me finding things I just wanted to see! I decided to look up places and find photos associated with them with Flickr maps. http://www.flickr.com/map/ I looked up the town where most of my family lives and was shocked to see that most of the pictures were not actually of the town or near the town. I can only assume that people tagged the town so they would get more views. However, I was impressed to see a photo of my cousin’s bar! The person who took it also gave the history of the bar, which I only knew in small snippets.
I realize that not all photographers will include the history behind their photos, but it did make for an interesting history lesson. The map feature would be a great way to learn the geography of places that the students are studying. Another way that Flickr could be utilized in the classroom is through helping students make collages or finding real world application photos for what we are studying (using the Creative Commons search of course!!!). Math students could find real world math in photos (ie. parabolas, ellipse, etc.) or Science students could identify photos that depict simple machines. What is currently floating around in my head is to have my students create a story using photos that depicts energy transformations. I think my mind is stuck on energy!!!
After my playtime was over and my gears were pumping with thoughts of how to use this in my class, I got serious about searching for a theme that I could share with others. I chose to link my wiki theme to the current unit of study I am teaching. So…my photo collage below shows the types of energy so the students can associate the vocabulary words with a real life image they are familiar with.
Chemical Energy
Electrical Energy
Light Energy
By Spigoo
Sound Energy
By Fey Ilyes
Thermal Energy
By matthewvenn
Nuclear Energy
By HeyRocker
These are some awesome photographs for depicting energy! With all of the images on Flickr, it seems there are endless possibilities for lessons, especially vocabulary! And as I've said a few times in a few different blog comments, I love the geotagging feature of Flickr! Thanks for reminding me to go and check the pics of my home town, and you inspired me to add some of a barrier island from a few years ago that I have that isn't even there entirely anymore, thanks to Hurricane Gustav. Like with your cousin's bar, that's history and geography all in one!
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