Photographs

Taking pictures is easier than ever with phones, tablets, and digital cameras all common in schools today. What is really important here is to remember these things (the equipment?). Photographs are a fantastic way to transport a moment or concept back into the classroom for further exploration of the knowledge linkages around it. Students trying to take photograps are also much more focused and concentrating much harder on what is happening than students passively looking or watching. The photographs have high motivational value to the students - because? How? Why?. The photographs are then added to the BDS database, either in the observations tab or the media tab for the relevant species or become part of a broader presentation or digital story.  They might also be used as a stimulus for drawing or other activities or form part of a display such as the food webs we made. You might end up with a lot of pretty ordinary pictures but remember its not just the quality of the pic that is of interest but also?.  Also if the school has a decent digital camera you can get some great pictures.

In a further extension of this concept we have used remote sensor cameras to capture images and vome video of things happening in the school ground.  The work we did with the bowerbird sequence was enormously engaging and exciting for the students.