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Using Photography To Teach Conservation and Basic Skills

Debora P. Carroll
School Forest Program of Superior Senior High School, Superior, Wisconsin

Subject: Language Arts
Grade: 10-12 (Alternative Education)

"The combination of photography and the long-term goal of producing a book helped students complete academic tasks they found distasteful. Photography is an ideal way to tie together academic goals of educators and students' experiential needs."

Purpose and Description of Project

Debora Carroll used photography as a motivational tool to enhance an ongoing alternative educational program for a group of students characterized as potential dropouts with a variety of personal and learning problems. The students spent half their school day in the alternative program, in which they researched and photographed wildlife and tree species, and participated in various class activities. They were involved in actual and simulated resource management practices, kept journals and finally organized and presented their knowledge and photographs in book form.

The Superior School Forest comprises 720 acres of wooded property that includes a stream, glacial features, hiking trails, and several small buildings. It offered these students an extraordinary outdoor laboratory for studying wildlife and forest management. Carroll also took the students on a field trip to another wildlife area and brought in several experts to lecture and hold demonstrations.

In addition to expanding significantly their knowledge and appreciation of the need for forest management, the project, says Carroll, brought students a wide range of other benefits. They learned about photography; showed improvement in such language skill areas as note taking, grammar, library research, and composition; and sharpened their observational skills and ability to cooperate and organize. The students' school attendance, self-esteem, and attitude toward learning also improved.

"Students who had never participated in school-related activities volunteered to stay after school to work on our book," remarks Carroll. "And teenagers who never before evidenced interest in nature were suddenly checking out guidebooks to identify birds."

Activities

Although activities in the areas of photography, forest management, wildlife management, and English overlapped, Carroll estimates that the 12-week project broke down to three weeks for photographic work, five weeks on wildlife and forestry activities, two weeks on English skills, and two weeks for organizing, editing, and producing the photo-illustrated book.

Students' introduction to camera use and darkroom techniques began with making photograms, which Carroll notes is "a simple exercise that gave them immediate darkroom experience and much information in a nonthreatening manner." They also worked with 35 mm cameras.

In their work on forestry, the students learned to identify various species of trees, discussed their habitat needs, completed individual research and reports, photographed the various species, carried out mapping and compass exercises, learned the use of such forestry tools as an increment borer, and developed their own forest management plans. A forester from the state Department of Natural Resources spent several class periods with the students as well as an entire day helping them gather data in the field.

During study of wildlife management, the students went on a field trip to a wildlife area where they were able to photograph numerous species in their natural habitat. They discussed the role of zoos in conservation and heard from zoo volunteers who brought live animals to highlight their talk. A presentation was made by a wildlife technician about his job, including a display of tools, mounted specimens, and maps. The students investigated the habitat needs of various animals and birds, set up feeding stations and blinds to observe wild creatures, and developed model wild life management plans.

Students' English exercises included locating information, taking notes, outlining, developing outlines into sentence and then paragraph form, and editing.

The students selected the photographs to be used in their book, brainstormed questions about each, and used the questions as a basis for deciding on the information to be included in photo captions and the written portions of the book. They also added drawings to show how trees would look in other seasons than that in which they had been photographed and to show the track prints of animals. The students' daily journals and reports throughout the project provided the primary basis for the written sections of the book. Each student retained a personal copy of the final 50-page book (titled "School Forest Wildlife and Forest Management"), and Carroll notes that other classes in the district have already requested copies for classroom use.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Among human resources were the forester, wildlife technician, and zoo volunteers who spoke to the students. Assisting were the naturalist who guided students on their field trip and two university professors who helped with the photography and editing of the book.

Equipment included six Kodak cameras, a Kodak photographic enlarger, developing trays, tongs, and film developing tanks. Materials included 100 sheets of Kodak photographic paper, KODAK DEKTOL Developer, KODAK fixer, MICRODOL-X Developer, negative protector sheets, 22 rolls of black-and-white 126 film and 15 rolls of 35 mm film, paper, poster paper, and plastic binders for 35 copies of the book. Forestry instruments included a clinometer and altimeter, biterlix stick, diameter tape, and increment borer.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Carroll found that her students' "overall enthusiasm and interest was sustained for a much longer period than I have ever seen before. Their great pride in what they had accomplished has convinced me that photography should have a permanent place in our curriculum." Part of the appeal, she believes, is that "writing, editing, or photographing for a real book doesn't seem childlike or 'schoolish.'"

In addition, the students "made great strides in photographic skills;" gained a great deal of factual information about forestry and wildlife habitat needs, interactions, identification, and management; and showed improvement in sentence structure, paragraphing, and ability to locate information. Also, says Carroll, the students gained a new awareness of their surroundings. They were "seeing through the lens of a camera details they had never seen before."

Carroll believes that photography could be used as a motivational device in many different academic areas but thinks it is especially effective when combined with writing. Not every school has its own forest, but she suggests that other teachers might want to concentrate on the urban environment, the school itself, or the living world that exists, often unnoticed, in any schoolyard.

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