Passport Please Project
This grade intergrates digital photography and social studies and can be used as an introductory activity at the beginning of the school year.
To visit our classroom webpage, click on the link below:
http://www.taskstream.com/ts/account/416.html
To read an article called "Using a Digital Camera Technology in the Classroom," click below.
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ucfcasio/classbk.htm
Our classroom made a spreadsheet to chart eye color, hair color, and state born. You may view this spreadsheet by clicking on the attachment below.
To download your own paper passport template, see the attachment below.
Note to Teachers:
If you have a limited number of computers or digital cameras, here are some ideas:
Passport Please? Rationale
DPI Standards:
Standard 4, Indicator 1
Standard 11, indicator 5
IA, IIB, IVA, IVB, IVC, VID, VIE
We began this project with going to www.kodak.com and learned tips to take good pictures. We learned that you should get on the level of the subject, focus the picture, and use the flash even in the daylight. Then we divided up into pairs and looked at the camera. When we felt comfortable with the cameras, we went outside to test out our camera skills. We each took close-up, distanced, nine framed, and personal pictures. When we finished shooting, we went back and uploaded the pictures onto our USB keys. Then we created a free photo account on www.kodakgallery.com. This gallery allows me to upload, edit, and share my photos with everyone. Once this account was set up, I uploaded my pictures to it and edited them. Later, as a class, we created a class web page on Task Stream. Our class web page is www.taskstream.com/ts/account/416.html .We each posted four pictures. One of them was a personal shot, up-close shot, cropped shot, and nine framed shot. We later posted a profile of ourselves, so our classmates can learn a little more about each other. With the posted information we gathered about each other, we charted and made a graph with it on Excel. We compared all the similarities and differences that we share between one another.
We also made a paper passport. It included basic information about us and a picture. We chose a country that we wanted to travel to and added a little bit of information about it in the paper passport. At the end of the passport, we wrote up rules about using the Internet that students should follow when using computers.
This project had a positive impact on me in various ways. It went over a lot of things that I already knew how to do, but also taught me new ways to do things too. I already knew how to use a camera, but this lesson helped me with taking better photos. I didn’t know anything about web pages. Through this activity, I was able to learn more about this area and I plan on using it in future years.
I feel like this is a very creative way to connect technology and social studies in the classroom. The web page could be used in various ways. At the beginning of the year, we could make a web page and share it with all the families. This would allow all the families to look at the classroom. We could update it regularly and this would also allow parents to keep up with what’s going on in the classroom.
I have met competency goal Ia by learning about cameras, editing photos that we took with the cameras, made a web page on Task Stream, and using Excel to chart out and graph information. I have met competency goal IIB by reading the article about the teacher in Florida and how she used cameras in her classroom. Goal IVa was met by connecting technology and social studies together. We used computers and cameras (technology) and a foreign country in our passport and connected them. Goal IVb was also met by using computers. We used Excel to chart out the characteristics that were similar and different in our classroom. Competency goal IVc was met by making a web page were we could post information about ourselves online. By doing this, we have used social studies and technology in many ways. Goal VId was met when we made rules about the Internet in the back of our passport. This shows students what is allowed when using computers and what is not allowed. Goal VIe is a section for teachers that teach them about accessing computers. According to the DPI standards, the students reached standard 4, indicator 1 by learning about world cultures by doing the passports. The students would also reach the standard 11, indicator 5 when using Excel and making charts and posting them online.
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