Using digital photography to connect children to natuer

1. Kids Afield
Marilyn Fenster
Elementary Teacher
Gail Hanss
Elementary Teacher
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Kids Afield Team
Robin Long
7-12 Biology Teacher
Robin Long
earthwalkertoo@gmail.com

2. K Afield Na ture & Te c hno lo g y
ids
•W
hat
•W
hy
 origins
 research
• How
 inside
 outside
•Learning
 children's
 teachers’
 sharing
Resources
& Extensions

3. Which applies most to your current work situation?
a) Teacher: students, ages 4 - 9
b) Teacher: students, ages 10 - 13
c) Teacher: students, ages 14 – 18
d) Administrator, Program Director, etc.

4. Familiarity with the tool
a) Familiar - use
b) Familiar - never used
c) Unfamiliar

5. Familiarity with the tool
a) Familiar - use
b) Familiar- never used
c) Unfamiliar

6. K Afield Na ture & Te c hno lo g y
ids
•W
hat
•W
hy
 origins
 research
• How
 inside
 outside
•Learning
 children's
 teachers’
 sharing
Resources
& Extensions

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8. bootleg@dschool.stanford.edu
User Camera Study
empathy
OR
…seeing world through another’s eyes
…understand environments in new way
Citizen Naturalists

9. • limits field of focus
• archives experiences
• employs “hybrid thinking”
• high intrinsic motivator
• empowers students

10. The ideal scientist
thinks like a poet
and works like a
bookkeeper.
E.O. Wilson
I believe that a central goal of
modern education should be to
encourage such flexible
thinking, to nurture the hybrid
mind — to stimulate both ways
of knowing in the world: digital
and direct experience.
Richard Louv
.
When I get my images home from a day of shooting,
I’m nearly always amazed at the details that I hadn’t
noticed in the field.
Charles J. Smith

11. 3 Key Resources
Time outdoors
Adult respect
for outdoors
for children’s ideas, activities

12. 1. Kid-Cameras
2. Introduce w/focus
3. Agency
•
•
•
•
fit kids’ hands
tough!
easy to use
$ 30 – 35
•
require batteries

13. 2. Introduce w/focus
Cameras as valued tools
Care of equipment
Care of one another
Care of space
Care of life sharing space
3. Agency
Valuing students’ interests
How Birds became a Class Focus

15. Authentic Assessment: Students
Explain why they took the picture…
pre-writers put the starting letter
of the word – later a teacher helps
transcribe

16. Birds – the kid-connection that stuck!
Great Free online Resources
BENEFITS
Present all year
Global Connections via migration
Inquiry Learning arises naturally
Art, Music, Writing
Strong intrinsic attraction

17. Imagination & Play
The Discovery of Mouse Town
Jay Stetzer
..John Burroughs, “Knowledge without
love will not stick. But if love comes
first, knowledge is sure to follow.” It’s
our responsibility as parents and
teachers to make sure that love comes
first.
David Sobel, Orion Magazine,
July/August 2012

24. Resource materials for Kids Afield are archived
At :
http://storify.com/earthwalker/kids-afield
woodswalkertoo@gmail.com
twitter.com/earthwalkertoo
connectchildrenntonature.wikispaces.com

25. PHOTOGRAPH CHANGES OVER TIME
PLANTS or areas of plants
SIGNS OF LIFE: leaf being consumed, animals prints,
decaying log, leaf litter, emerging buds, etc.
EROSION
TRACES of water flow
PATTERNS left by mud
SKY
MATERIALS left out for animals (bird food, fruit, etc)
A PUDDLE
SIGNS of human movement in and out of an area
SNOW melting
DATA - INQUIRY DRIVEN
Shadows - Plant growth - Leaf drop Color changes – Bird nest materials –
Bird feeder experiments – Trash –
Spider webs – Plant damage – MeltingVisual changes with temperature or light
Photo scavenger huntIdentifying plants & ” bugs” –
Camouflage challenges – Story
or poetry starters – ‘favorites’Kid-generated Games/Activities

26. Photos from Student Generated
Nest Material Experiment

29. Grades 7 & 8
Nature Photo
Elective