Making Data more Visual, Relevant and Comprehensible

This week John Dodig, principal of SHS, shared an amazing video, Hans Rosling: Debunking Third-World Myths with the Best Stats You've Ever Seen. Many teachers are now exploring how they can use the software demonstrated in this video to make data more visual and understandable. Watch the video to discover new ways to visualize data:

TIMESPACE: WORLD - from the Washington Post

Just read about the Washington Post's new interactive news map on Joyce Valenza's School Library Journal NeverEndingSearch Blog, and thought it would be of interest to many of you personally, and it could serve as a resource for some of your students.

TimeSpace is an interactive map that allows you to navigate articles, photos, video and commentary from around the globe. Discover news hot-spots where coverage is clustered. Use the timeline to illustrate peaks in coverage, and customize your news searches to a particular day or specific hour. (Many Washington Post stories appear at midnight; others are published throughout the day as news happens).

Place your cursor on the timeline at the bottom and you can scroll through 24 hours changing the number of Photos, Post Global Blogs, Videos, Post Articles, Foreign Policy and Articles are available. You can check each box to filter only those types of information you are looking for. Using the search box you can refine your search by entering names or topics of interest.

Click HERE to go to the Post's Interactive News Map.

BMS: Digital Photography -- Abstract Architecture

Kathy Fleming, Technology teacher at BMS, is currently working with students over a series of sessions on a Digital Photography unit. Students viewed several YouTube videos and a BrainPop video about taking good digital images and using digital cameras.
Students learned the three essential elements of a successful photograph: the subject matter, the composition and the lighting. The subject matter must be interesting, or beautiful, or striking, or funny, or touching. The composition is the arrangement of the subject matter within the photograph and it should create a balance and/or special meaning. The lighting defines the shape, mood, depth, and contrast.

Students also spent time reviewing and identifying basic photography principles, such as:
• The use of focus to add depth or a 3-dimensional feel
• Looking at the background - for weird looking objects or for being too busy and distracting.
• The use of flash both outdoors and indoors
• Moving in close on a a subject
• Getting down to the subject’s eye level
• Using the Rule of Thirds
• The power of vertical vs. horizontal images
• The meaning and use of a Dutch tilt
• Acting as "a picture director"
• Capturing the feeling of the moment.
• The use of lines, angles, & shapes in objects (esp. in abstract images)
• Focusing on a small part of a larger thing (esp. in abstract images)

Students were given many images, and asked to work with a partner. The students wrote short comments under each photo which described the basic photography principle that was followed.
They were also asked to comment on images that did not show any of the principles, and asked to explain how the image could be improved.

They also perused many images in Flickr's Abstract Architecture Gallery and made comments on some of them.Each student then used a digital camera to take 5 – 10 abstract architectural photographs around the BMS campus. They were told that quality, not quantity was most important. When they returned to the classroom they used a card reader to download their images to their "Y-Drives." After reviewing their photos, they selected the 2 best and inserted them in to a Word document, under which they described how each photo demonstrated the principles of photography.

Since this lesson is in progress the finished products will not be posted for another 2 weeks. Please come back very soon to view a few samples of the amazing digital photography work done by the 7th grade computer students at BMS.