Skip to main content

Uses of Microsoft Photosynth in Geography

Photosynth

I’ve been aware of Microsoft’s Photosynth for a while now, mainly via a post from Ollie Bray.  However, I’ve never had time to sit down and explore uses until now.

I’ve created a quick example and have thought of a number of ways in which these could be used in Geography.  I will write more about Photosynth next month as we will be using it with pupils as part of our 21st Century Learning Alliance Fellowship project.

Teacher using Photosynth using a projector

The Photosynth below shows an area of the Geography department at my school.  It’s not great, with a matchup of only 65%, but I wanted to reflect the time and ability of students.  I took 85 pictures using an Olympus uTough 8000.  The software was easy to use, but did take some time meaning that complete Photosyths would not be able to be created within the space of a one hour lesson.

This could be used in class in a number of ways:

1. Space and a sense of Place are core principles of Geography.  What do pupils like about this space?  How do they feel?  How would they change this space? Does the resource accurately reflect that space an place? For example, does this place always look the same?

2. Photosynths could be created of fieldwork locations – this would allow classes to revisit them, and for those who missed out on the trip to visit them for the first time.  Alternativly, a fieldwork location could be risk assessed by a class before visiting there – this links in nicely to Every Child Matters and Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.

3. In combination with Community Clips, pupils and teachers could record their thoughts and feelings about this place while they explore the Photosynth.

4. The above idea could be expanded into a transition project – get different pupils to create and narrate over areas of the school.  Then get the next intake to explore the school, assess how accurate the Photosynths were, and possibly create their own.

5. I really like playing around with the representation of space, so get pupils to create Photosynths of places that make them look scary, busy or looking like a ghost town.  The conversations that would lead to and follow such work would tap into deep Geographical concepts.

6. If your school is undergoing a building project or any form of change, Photosynth could be used in order to create a digital time capsule of the changes.  More on this one at a later date….

7. The Highlight function could be used to provide directions, thoughts, poems and chants about a particular location in the photograph,

8. I’ll be starting with my image with Year 8 this afternoon.  I’m going to ask them to tear it apart, and then do better!

Labels:

Comments

  1. Alan Parkinson16 June 2010 at 13:55

    Here's my first effort for what it's worth too...

    http://livinggeography.blogspot.com/2009/03/first-photosynth-hunstanton-cliffs.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge.  I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post.  I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff.  If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been 
5 comments
Read more

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey.  As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others.  Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up.  I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions.  From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment.  From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die.  How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach?  Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound
4 comments
Read more

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options.  Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet.  Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco.  I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option.  The result? No egg on my face.  As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life.  It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon.  They may die or be seriously injured.  If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way.  There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious.  Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin.  However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal.  The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).
1 comment
Read more