School Photo Scavenger Hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Overview

This is intended to be a start of year activity at school. However it could also be an activity to introduce students to the use of digital cameras or photography (angles etc). The age of the students will determine the difficulty level of the activity. For NZ teachers this could be an excellent start of year approach to the Key Competencies (http://keycompetencies.tki.org.nz/).

What do I need?
camera & cables computer software - for downloading the photos and for the presentation of the students photos instruction sheets (laminated so they can be reused - enough for every camera available plus one extra for the teacher) possibly prepared template for the students to drop their photos into

Teacher's Role

The initial work is done by the teacher (or another student) and involves taking photographs from around the school/classroom for the students to identify. Out of 10 photographs 2 could be easy (wide shot clearly identifying the subject of the photograph); 2 could be hard (close up shots - ambiguous); and the rest somewhere in between. Once the photos have been taken create the instruction sheets with no more than four (4) pictures to an A4 page (for clarity of photo - especially if they are being printed in Black & White) and laminate (I will produce 4 of these - one for each camera I have available and one for me for reference). The sheets may just be numbered photographs with the instructions being verbal or in the classroom. Print a larger (A3) copy to go on the wall for reference as well. Create a sign up sheet for students to enter their group name and members. This can be used to keep track of who has completed the task.

Student's Activity

1. Have the students form themselves into small groups - get them to choose a name for this group (maybe thematic) and put this information on the sign up sheet. 2. Send the first three groups out to find the photograph locations and take an identical (or near enough) photograph as evidence. 3. Once all photos have been located (or once time is up) the group returns to the class to download the photos into a group folder. 4. Using the specified presentation software (such as PowerPoint, Google Presentation, OpenOffice) insert photos taken by their group - save with group name and project name (or other naming convention as specified by the teacher.

Outcome

Once all the groups have completed the two tasks (taking of photos and creating their presentation) it will be time to review them all. This can be a whole class activity using the data projector. This would be a good time to also get the groups to self-assess their work as well including aspects of the key competencies (http://keycompetencies.tki.org.nz/What-are-KCs) you may have decided to highlight for this exercise

Other Notes

Other Ideas/Activities

Depending on the age group and desired outcomes of this exercise there may be other activities you could do before and after this one. Some ideas: To introduce the idea of finding an object by it's photograph run a whole class activity in a smaller area (for instance the playing field) and give each group 4 or 5 objects to find without cameras. Introduce the activity by using the more obvious photos first then moving on to the other more difficult photos Once you've done this activity continue it by having an object of the week with a small prize to the first person/group who finds and photographs (this would spill over into break times) This could become a web activity with the photo residing on a web page and with students having to find and photograph and then upload for comparison (a wiki would make this a good option with timestamps)

Downloads

Example downloads available - note that these are unusable unless you are teaching at my school! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/144504/Scavenger_hunt_1.pdf

Note from Author

As I develop this I'll add some PDF examples for downloading - and when I do it with my class I'll try and get some photos of the students working on this activity.