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Curriculum Connections
Developing
Young Scientists
Like real scientists, your students must learn keen observation to take
in information and record details of what they see. After all, it's
only after someone has really seen something that he or she can make
sense of it. Photography can be a great learning and assessment tool
for capturing observations, documenting experiments, and revealing student
understanding. Here are some ideas to spark your thinking:
Investigative
Eyes 
Early in a science exploration, invite students to use a camera to document
fascinating features and phenomena – a ladybug feeding on an aphid,
a bold pollen-laden bloom, earthworms at work in a compost bin (via
time lapse photography). When questions arise that students can answer
through routine observations or experiments, they can use photos along
with written descriptions to document and compare different treatments
(e.g., plant growth and health in different types of soils). As students
make sense of their experimental data and present their findings, they
can use photos along with verbal or written explanations to illustrate
and defend their conclusions.
Picturing Learning
Photo by Laura Bauersfeld, Middle School Student
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At the end of a unit
on a particular science topic or concept, such as adaptations or decomposition,
challenge your youngsters to take and annotate photographs to explain
what they've learned. For instance, to show their grasp of the concept
that flowers have evolved adaptations (colors, designs, shapes) to attract
specific pollinators, students might get shots of a variety of flower
types (and if they're lucky, capture pollinators to boot!). Their annotations
could explain how and why different flower features allure specific types
of pollinators (and "trick" them into transferring pollen).
Garden Changes and Cycles
The concept of change over time is a foundation of curriculum frameworks
and standards, even for the youngest students. By capturing a plant
or location at various points during a life cycle, season, or year,
students have a chronological record they can draw on to practice sequencing,
predict changes, grasp concepts (like how a flower becomes a bean),
and so on. They might train their lenses on the garden cycle, the life
cycle of a particular plant, the process of decomposition (e.g., by
taking shots every few days of a squash left outdoors in the heat),
stages of a Monarch butterfly, or seasonal changes in a tree or meadow.
Create
a Photo Field Guide
Field
guides are publications designed to help people identify living things
outdoors. Plant field guides typically rely on drawings or photographs
of plants, so using cameras to create a vibrant schoolyard resource
makes good sense. You can begin by having students peruse and use published
field guides, and pick out elements that make them useful. (Plant and
flower guides are generally arranged according to physical characteristics,
such as flower type, size, and color; leaf arrangement; and plant height.)
Photo courtesy
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
(c) 2003, John Herron, TPWD |
Another alternative
is to have students determine how they want to organize guides based
solely on their observations, garden or schoolyard plant types, and
the intended use of the resource. For instance, they might organize
plants by flower color or the types of pollinators they attract, or
sequence them to coincide with stops on a self-guided habitat tour.
If you have a computer database that accepts digital photos, students
can sort by different fields so they can print out different types of
guides (e.g., organized by flower color or plant family). They can then
invite peers or community members to try different versions and decide
which systems they prefer.
Capturing
Garden Design Ideas
Before digging into designing a schoolyard or habitat, youngsters can
use cameras as planning tools. Here are a few ideas to spark your thinking:
- Students take
photos of compelling features or plantings in public or neighborhood
gardens; they use these to inspire their own design visions.
- The class photographs
different areas of the schoolyard to document existing features. They
piece these together and post them so they can take in the "big picture"
and/or use them to create baseline map. (By doing the same once they've
transformed the area, they can create an impressive "before and after"
display.)
- Young shutterbugs
capture what's flowering or fruiting in the schoolyard at different
times of the season or year. This can help them plan an oasis that
has visual interest year-round and better meets the needs of a variety
of wildlife.
Writing
About Images
Schoolyard
images that grab youngsters' attention can be excellent springboards
for practicing writing and vocabulary. Lay the groundwork by having
students select schoolyard photos they've taken. These might be intriguing
images snapped for fun
or those taken to illustrate a particular concept or theme. Next, ask
individuals or small groups to examine a photo and brainstorm descriptive
words, phrases, and analogies. These lists should inspire write creative
captions or short stories that say something about the importance of
what students captured.
Another option is
to have the class choose and sequence a group of photographs taken over
time during an exploration. Use these to prompt a brainstorm, as above,
and write stories describing the experience depicted. You may want to
discuss strategies for drawing in the reader, employing analogies, weaving
in facts related to what they learned, and other writing techniques.
Display the projects in a hallway or publish them in another form (see
next activity).
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Art
Connections
Have
a garden photography display in a school room, hallway, or
local library, complete with an "art opening" party for the school
and neighborhood community. Be sure to include a short "bio" for
each of the artists.
Make
paintings from photographs. Or, make a collage of photos,
paint, and other media.
Create
photo note cards by using glue sticks or photo tape to attach
images to heavy paper or card stock. Wrap batches in homemade
paper or tissue paper and tie them with ribbons. Give them as
gifts or sell them in the school or community to raise funds for
a garden project or class trip.
Launch
or enter a photo contest! Click
here for details on the 2003 Kidsgardening Photo Contest.
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Create a Photo-Rich Presentation
or
How-To Guide
The old
saw is true: a picture is worth 1,000 words. Just think about how images
can enrich presentations — by instructing, illustrating, telling
a story, and delighting an audience. (What's more, jittery presenters
find that visual aids give the audience another place to focus their
eyes!) Teachers say they know students have made connections to learning
goals when they are able to share what they've learned, be it the mystery
of decomposition or the nutritional value and great flavor of homegrown
produce. Teaching younger students or preparing a "how-to" publication
inspires and requires students to develop a thorough understanding of
their subject matter.
Photos can be used
to enhance projects published on a Web site, in PowerPoint (or other
presentation program), on posters, or in a print publication. Here are
some ideas to consider:
Garden Tour
Take representative photographs of schoolyard gardens or habitats and
use them to create a "garden tour" in PowerPoint or on the Web. Use
these to spread the word about your project or about a particular concept
— gardening for butterflies, growing native plants — to students
in other schools, adult community members, and potential funders.
How-To Guide
Create an instructional guide about something students have mastered
in the garden: building a compost pile, planting trees, transplanting
seeds, raising butterflies, or making raised beds, for instance. Try
to break down the process into the smallest number of simple steps you
can and still get the message across clearly. Have students plan the
project in advance so they can capture enough images to demonstrate
important steps. Students might freely share
the materials or market them to the school and community to raise money
for the garden program.
Garden
Scrapbook
Develop a print or electronic publication that features photo highlights
from a year in the garden. Students might choose to brainstorm sections
to include: garden creatures, funny moments, growing cycles, and so
on; or they might organize the presentation to feature each type of
resident plant, along with details on its colorful history, significance
in the habitat, nutritional value, and recipes that feature it.
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Photo by Nathan Webel, Elementary School Student
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Garden Photo
Alphabet Book
Very young students
can create a garden or nature alphabet book by finding plants, critters,
and other living and nonliving elements in the schoolyard. (Older students
might also create one of these for younger classes.) They can photograph
plants and other features that begin with each letter of the alphabet
and/or those that visually resemble letters. "A" could be represented
by an asparagus fern, "J" by a Johnny jump-up, and "W" by a wheelbarrow.
A stalk of bent grass or pattern in the soil might just look like a
"Z"!
Patterns
and Math in Nature
When
you have youngsters train their eyes on the shapes and patterns in the
natural world, you enrich both artistic and mathematical thinking. If
you teach young students, start by brainstorming basic shapes (e.g.,
circle, oval, triangle) and have them scour the schoolyard or garden
for these forms. Encourage youngsters to "look" on micro- and macro-levels.
For instance, they might first get very close to a plant and identify
shapes — the circular center of a flower, a triangular leaf —
and then step further back and take in larger shapes in the environment,
such as a square garden bed. Make sure they also keep alert for shapes
they hadn't yet considered (e.g., a star). After identifying shapes
and comparing different variations on a given form (how different triangles
can look in different contexts), have the class home in on some "shapes
in nature" to photograph for a display.
 Patterns
(things that are repeated) in nature are another great entry point.
After exploring the idea of patterns and brainstorming some examples,
send students out, cameras in hand, on a hunt for natural patterns.
They might uncover vein patterns in leaves, a repeated design on a flower
petal, a spider's web, or the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower. You
may want to pique their interest and understanding by having them visit
this Patterns in Nature Web site created by British students http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/patterns_nature/index.htm.
Once they have photos in hand (or on screen), ask students to observe,
compare, and describe different patterns and sort the photos as they
see fit (e.g., symmetrical vs. asymmetrical patterns).
Extension:
One pattern with a mathematical basis (Fibonacci numbers) occurs in
many places in nature, from pine cones to sunflowers and seashells.
Here's how it works: A "Fibonacci sequence" includes the numbers 1,
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on (each number is the sum of the two
preceeding numbers). In nature, these values often show up in the form
of a certain number of spirals around an object. For instance, pine
cones usually have 8 spirals going around in one direction and 13 in
the other (both Fibonacci numbers). You may want to share this pattern
with students, have them guess which number comes after 21, and invite
them to examine the seeds embedded in a sunflower head. (Younger students
may just look for spirals and older ones might try to count the two
opposite sets of spirals.) Can they find evidence of this pattern at
work? Where else can they find and photograph evidence of spirals or
patterns that link to these numbers (e.g., monocots, such as lilies,
typically have petals in multiples of three).
Copyright© 2003
National Gardening Association
Growing Ideas Classroom Projects is a benefit for NGA's Members
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