Pic Collage: Another Favorite "Evergreen" App

I believe that using images helps most learners understand concepts better. Because of my belief, I use many sources of multimedia in my lab. Since getting our iPads in January, I have developed several academic tasks using Pic Collage.

Pic Collage is easy to use; after modelling the use of a few features, students are able to quickly create some worthwhile projects.

Our third graders study the civilization of ancient Egypt. This collage shows some of the important concepts they had been reading and discussing in their classroom.

After a review of image search parameters, students found copyright free images and saved them to their camera roll. Within Pic Collage, they chose layouts and imported the photos. They labelled each with the text feature and designed the textboxes. Lastly, they selected a background.

Students benefit from viewing examples with effective and poor elements of effective visual design. I encourage them to think about the use of space, size of elements, and legibility.






I am working with the fourth grade teachers to teach some geography of the United States. We are spending a few days learning about each of the regions. The textbook they use features the historic changes in agriculture in the Midwest region.

In this collage, the students took photographs of the images in their textbook with their iPad camera. I taught them how to crop images in the Photos app. I also provided a sentence prompt which they completed for each image they chose.

They arranged the photographs chronologically and added the text which they had written on their papers.



I plan to use this app with my first graders next rotation. They can take photographs of themselves showing either emotions or actions, then write their own labels.

Where in the World was Ms. K-A?

I have been experimenting with various methods to help students search more effectively. I had a lesson  this week that was successful. The task was to find the location where I had taken a photograph or was the subject of a photo. I created this task in our Moodle course:

The link was to a Google Apps Form I created. Students simply entered the answer after completing the search. I asked them to screenshot the information so that they could not simply get the answer from a neighbor. I also used the screenshots later to discuss effective keywords.

I created a Google presentation of photographs which had captions. These provided the search terms. We reviewed using only the most important terms, leaving out words such as "in the." I have been amazed at how difficult it has been for my students to pare down their search terms. They often type in a complete question, which I strongly discourage.

There was a lot of "buzz" about the photos, which was fun. I heard students guessing locations with each other as they searched. 

I was able to check and give feedback immediately after they submitted their answers. As I spot checked their screenshots, I was able to help them modify their search terms if needed. Most students were very successful, correctly identifying most of the 12 locations.

I want to take this idea to the next level, in which students create the photo clues for each other.

Expand Horizons with Photography

I started a new routine in my computer lab this year.  As classes come in, I display a photograph on the interactive whiteboard.   When students are seated, I give them a minute to look and think.  I then welcome them to comment or ask questions about the photograph.

We spend less than 3 minutes discussing and looking for clues that may tell us where the photo was taken.  Each image has elicited interesting ideas and concepts, ranging from climate to vegetation, to natural phenomena.  I have been able to introduce vocabulary, such as "rural" and "polar" in context. This routine has given me glimpses of my students' knowledge and knowledge gaps in geography. I can also quickly shift to a world map when explaining locations.

Students are excited when they guess the location.  It has been rewarding to watch them enter with an look of excitement about the image they are seeing.

I use some of my own photographs from travelling.  I also find great photos from these sources:
National Geographic, Lonely Planet and BBC Travel.

My younger classes simply discuss an image, naming what they see and asking questions. It provides oral language practice and sparks curiosity about our world.  National Geographic Photos of the day usually have accompanying information giving context to the photograph. I sometimes use it to tell the story of how the photo was taken.