BP10_2009103: Flickr Lesson

Including "math" in my search for a flickr assignment quickly directed me toward a blog page I had come across in our reading of web2.0 tools - Darren Kuropatwa's "A Difference." Darren is a math teacher in Manitoba, Canada, who is rather widely known for his incorporation of web tools in the math classroom.

The lesson I discovered was related to creating mind maps using flickr. Students were introduced to the assignment in 2 stages, the first being quite simple in order to familiarize them with flickr along with tagging and other features (students were asked to take a picture of their favorite number in some creative context). This is the example Darren provided to his students:

His picture depicts the number 49, using a russian method of multiplying on your fingers. To see how, visit his blog:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyperbob/3535261/

In the second step of the assignment, students were to capture a picture that would incorporate aspects of a given topic from a selected unit of study. Several requirements were made clear regarding the photos (first being that the students had to take a genuine photo), then "hot spots" were identified in the photos,relating aspects of the photos to the math unit/topic.

Ultimately, Darren worked with his students to develop the rubric that the photos would be judged by, giving the students a hand in practically all phases of the exercise.