An Online Image Option for the Classroom

As part of a unit on landform studies in my Social Studies class, I wanted students to be able to identify, in an authentic way, the various landforms that we were featuring in our unit of study. One challenge I faced was that any image I found and attempted to photocopy or reproduce for a worksheet was greatly compromised in the process. These poor quality images forced me to rely on vocabulary words and definitions to teach the concept rather than creating a visual connection to the landform that I wanted the students to learn. To solve this problem, I searched for images that represented different landforms that I needed my students to know.

There are MANY image warehouses available on the internet. I used flickr for many of the landform pictures. GoogleEarth also provided great views of larger landforms that I was able to screen capture.





Uploading each picture into Picasa (one of many online photo storage sites) allowed me to house the collection of pictures in one location. Instead of including comments about each picture, I typed the definition of the landform in the comments section.

As an assessment, I had the students log onto Picasa with a numbered worksheet and a word bank. They then needed to look at each landform, read the definition and write the word on their worksheet.

This type of lesson could be adapted to MANY different content areas that involve recognizing and identifying a location, image, landmark, invention, person, etc.

Here are some materials that I utilize to teach Landforms.

(1) Follow this link for access to a Word file in Scribd that lists many landforms and provides students with an opportunity to explore the definition through multi-modalities. http://www.scribd.com/doc/19950040/Land-Forms


(2) In conjunction with the document, use this list to explore EACH landform. Simply cut and paste the location into GoogleEarth and it will zoom directly to that landform. In instances where the landform cannot be explored through GoogleEarth, click the link for a photo. http://www.k12.ginet.org/webpages/mhoward/social.cfm?subpage=10058

(3) Play “Geography Rocks” bingo as a review of the landforms. Use pebbles or small rocks as bingo chips. Follow this link for access to a bingo board as a Word file in Scribd. http://www.scribd.com/doc/19683896/Geography-Rocks-Board.



(3) This Picasa photo album provides a picture of each landform along with a definition of each landform: http://picasaweb.google.com/Mrs.Mary.Howard.118/GeographicalTermsLandforms#

(4) Follow this link for access to a Word file in Scribd that can be used along with the Picasa photo album. http://www.scribd.com/doc/17436316/Land-Forms-Quiz