The following links will provide you with examples of how teachers around the world are using digital cameras as a teaching tool:

The Rainbow Project: If you want to find Waukesha. This project was modeled after the book If You Want to Find Golden, by Eileen Spinelli. These 3rd grade students first thought about things that represented their town and then went out and took photographs of the items. After they had acquired the photo's, they created a photo CD. In addition to taking the photo's and creating the CD, the students also wrote sentences to accompany each of the photo's. This project can easily be adapted for use by older students. For example, older students could take photos and instead of creating a CD, they could create a webpage.

http://www.ecb.org/ttt/program1.htm#rainbow

Global Communications. This project was conducted by 4th grade students but can easily be adapted for use by older students. These students made new friends in Germany. They e-mailed pictures and biographies of themselves to their new e-mail friends. Kathy Sanders is the teacher who supervised this project and she really utilized technology. The emails created such an interest that it led to a bilingual website which the foreign language students at the high school would translate. Kathy's students also used CU-See Me software to later get to meet their new friends. This would be a great project for high school students taking foreign language.

http://www.ecb.org/ttt/program16.htm#global

Classroom FeederWatch. This is an education curriculum designed for students in the 5th - 8th grade and was developed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Students learn how science and scientists work by actually being involved in the scientific process themselves. One of the goals of the project is for students and their teachers to learn how to identify birds. A great way to do this would be to have students take pictures using digital cameras of all the different types of birds they see, and then discuss as a class each of the different species.

http://birds.cornell.edu/cfw/

Monarch Watch is a collaborative effort dedicated to the education and conservation of Monarchs. This project actually provides a K-8 curriculum which leads students through an inquiry based study of Monarchs. A great way to enhance learning about any species is to have students take pictures of the species and their habitats.

http://MonarchWatch.org/

Other ways to use digital camera technology in the classroom:

1. A great modified version of Show and Tell would be to have students take pictures of objects in their community that they would like to tell the class about. For example, a statue or building that has some historical relevance, or maybe a tree that was struck by lightning.

2. Have students do a photo-journal for a day or even a week. This is a great way to document how you spend your time. Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning. Also include getting ready for school, school activities, and after school activities. This is a great way for other students to gain an appreciation for each others cultural differences.

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