Session notes: Global Awareness through Geotagging: Creating and Using Digital Photo Maps

Dr. Becky Sue Parton & Dr. John Dawson
Texas Woman’s University

Geotagging: creating geographical tags on images
Creating digital photo maps
Flickr
Triggermap.com
http://www.communitywalk.com/
25 integration ideas
Handouts:
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/uploads/NECC2007/KEY_40263347/Parton_NECC2007.pdf
Students bring baby photos tagged with the place of their birth. Create a class map as a group.
Plan a trip in groups. Find photos of famous places (i.e. the Alamo) for the map. Extend the activity with travel distances, climate, & costs.
For a history lesson, download images of all the Presidents & place in their home state. Compute percentages by state.
For a science lesson, research the region where particular dinosaurs lived & map. (or any animal’s origins).
Research the past locations of the Olympics. Select a representative image from each on & map. Discuss how countries share the responsibility & honor of hosting the games. (or follow the torch route)
Find photos of state birds (or flowers) & map to the capitals.
If the students have pen pals, or missionaries they support for Christian schools, a photo or avatar could be used to start culture talks.
Track natural disasters for a period of time (i.e. places tornadoes touched down for a month) & gather related data + discuss weather.
For older students, select a few potential colleges, map with the mascot, discuss differences.
Track a band or singer on a concert tour. Scan album covers & map on the cities.
Zoom in to a local area & do a street level map of a race for a worthy cause. Tie in exercise talks.
For older kids, take a walking trip & let them photograph environmental problem areas (i.e. trash, etc). Take a long/lat reading (using GPS device) & then map.
Design a .jpg image of the word “hello” in languages around the world & map appropriately.
For history, map famous battle sites or walks (ex. Revolutionary).
Release a set of balloons with instructions for the finder to mail back a postcard indicating where it was found and then map generic balloon images on the spots.
Find images from recent movies & place on a map where filming occurred (i.e. Jurassic Park was done in Hawaii). Discuss logistics.
Get images of currency around the world & place appropriately; tie in math lessons or the “Where in the world is George” website.
For older students have them pick 5 items from home & take pictures. Then tell them to see where the item was made. Place the photos in that country (just in the center). Look for trends & discuss job issues.
Get images of famous paintings & place them in the country where the artist lived(s). i.e. Kinkade – USA. Use the map as a quiz also.
Send several UPS packages & track their route on the web. Put “package images” for all the stops along the way & discuss the mail system with younger kids.
Create a school map of sport events when students travel as a “wall of victory.”
For a driver’s ed class, have students get the accident reports for a week for a large city like Dallas. Place car images on the locations. Link to a report on injuries & discuss hazardous areas, etc.
Students can make drawings of Native Americans, scan them, & put them on an Indian Reservation that exists today. Social studies topics such as the Oregon trail for settlers is another approach.
Use a map in combination with a video conferencing experience (i.e. Deaf kids at TX School for the Deaf & storytellers at Gallaudet).
Virtual Field Trips
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2007/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=40263347