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Our Community - Architecture and History

Brad K. Cressman
Sheckler Elementary School, Catasauqua, Pennsylvania

Subject: Community Studies
Grade: 4

"Learning about a community and its history through the architecture of its buildings is an activity ideally suited to photography."

Purpose and Description of Project

Brad Cressman and his students studied the different types of architecture in their community and the history behind the buildings, photographed the buildings, and produced a slide/tape show on the community's history and architecture. They also produced a teacher resource book of black-and-white prints and information from the show's script and transposed the slide/tape show onto 3/4" video tape for use as an individual learning tool.

The class was divided into four groups, each of which concentrated on a particular aspect of the project-photography, securing resource people, researching history and architecture, and compiling prints, slides, and script into a teacher resource kit. Their work has, according to the teacher, drawn an enthusiastic response from various segments of the community and from other teachers. Copies of the show have been presented to the local public library and to the school district, and local community groups began requesting showings even before the project was completed. Cressman says it will be used in the primary grades as a "This Is Our Town" unit, in intermediate grades as a history unit, and in high school as part of the Art Department's curriculum.

Activities

The photography group attended classes in which photography was treated as both an art and a science. They learned how to use a 35 mm camera, various photographic techniques, and how to develop black-and-white prints in the darkroom. Then, accompanied by Cressman and the school art teacher, who helped with architectural identifications, the students went on a walking tour around town to photograph historical buildings.

The correspondence group arranged class speakers, including a professional photographer and two members of the local historical society.

The script group researched the history and architecture of the slides, wrote a narrative to accompany the slides, and taped the script, along with music and sound effects.

The final group was involved in writing an introduction for the teacher resource book and compiling all other components. They used black-and-white prints and the script to produce the resource book and arranged it and the slides into a kit. They also transferred the slide/tape show to videotape for individual student use.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Human resources included historical society members, a photographer, the school's music and art teachers, the district reading specialist (who helped with script writing and editing), and the head of the state unit's Instructional Materials Center, who helped students mix voice and music on the audio tape.

Students used four 35 mm cameras, a KODAK EKTAGRAPHIC EF Visualmaker to take slides from reference books, 10 rolls of KODACHROME 64 Film for slides and four rolls of KODAK TRI-X Pan Film for black-and-white prints, and darkroom chemicals and supplies. Also required were three audio tapes, three slide trays, and reproduction paper for the resource book.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Cressman says his students learned photography, learned to identify the architectural components of buildings and their historical significance and were eager to share their new knowledge with classmates, teachers parents, and the community. They also improved their sequencing, writing, and oral communication skills while preparing and presenting the slide show, he reports.

The teacher adds that the project would be suitable for students of any age from grade four on up and suggests that "with the recent increase in public awareness of local history and historical buildings in particular, such a project would be met with open arms by all segments of the community."

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