Using Digitally-Manipulated Images in the Classroom

In this week's module, we learned various ways to support visual learners in the classroom, including integrating digitally-manipulated images into lessons. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to create the following image, "Pocahontas with Betty" (Granfield, 2022):

This work, "Pocahontas with Betty," is a derivative of "Pocahontas-14" by Elmer Boyd Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. "Pocahontas with Betty" by Kerry Granfield can be reused under the CC BY 4.0 license.  

Digitally-manipulated images engage learners by grabbing their interest and drawing them into a lesson. As Dr. Langren mentioned in our module, an effective strategy is to create an "improbable scene" to serve as a writing or discussion prompt. Another benefit of digitally-manipulated images is that they can address one of "the 7 P's" for improving student learning: personalization (Graham et al., 2019). Educators can insert pictures of their students into images (as I have done with my daughter Betty above) to capture their interest. Furthermore, images can stick in learners' brains and help them remember and connect content.

"Pocahontas with Betty" could be used to introduce a first-grade unit on Pocahontas and the Powhatan American Indian tribe. The history and social science standard of learning 1.3 b expects students to describe the contributions of Pocahontas to the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia Department of Education, 2015). While showing the image, I would engage students in a conversation using the three prompts recommended in the Visual Thinking Strategies video: "what do you notice, what do you see that makes you say/think that, and what else can we find" (Huron Valley Schools, 2011).

Graham et al. (2019) recommend using the "PICRAT matrix" to evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning practices in the classroom. The "RAT framework" is used to evaluate whether technology is replacing (R), amplifying (A), or transforming (T) traditional teaching practices (Graham et al., 2019). The "PIC framework" evaluates the extent of student engagement in blended learning, i.e., whether students are passively (P), interactively (I), or creatively (C) participating in the activity (Graham et al., 2019).   

With regard to the RAT framework, I believe that using a digitally-modified image such as "Pocahontas with Betty" in the classroom is an amplification (A) of traditional teaching practices, because it would be difficult to draw this image using traditional art tools. With regard to the PIC framework, using the image as a discussion prompt would classify as a passive (P) activity. However, students in the upper elementary grades could potentially learn to use Photoshop to create their own digitally-manipulated images, an activity that would creatively (C) engage them in blended learning. 

References

Graham, C. R., Borup, J., Short, C. R., & Archambault, L. (2019). K-12 blended teaching: A guide to personalized learning and online integration [eBook]. EdTechBooks.org. http://edtechbooks.org/k12blended

Granfield, K. (2022). Betty sitting crisscross applesauce [Image]. 

Granfield, K. (2022). Pocahontas with Betty [Digitally-modified image]. https://kerrygranfield554.blogspot.com/2022/02/using-digitally-manipulated-images-in.html

Huron Valley Schools. (2011, September 20). Visual Thinking Strategies [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNI1IouvpPM

Smith, E. B. (1906). Pocahontas-14 [Image]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pocahontas-14.jpg 

Virginia Department of Education. (2015). History and social science standards of learning for Virginia public schools: Grade one. https://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/index.shtml