Evaluation camera

 

3rd year student teachers from the Haagse Hogeschool (dept. Teacher Training)were offered  the option to carry out some of the camera-activities developed in the Richard von Weiszäcker Institut in Lüdinghausen (Germany) in their practice schools in The Hague (The Netherlands). The following summary is based on 8 reports made by these students and an interview with teachers from a school that adopted parts of the activity-series in a project on technology.

In an additional powerpoint presentation a selection of images from this practical experience is shown.

Report by Haagse Hogeschool.

 

A. Concerning the nursery school teacher and teaching

 

-          how was the activity carried out? For example: guidance, steps, materials.

 

In most situations activities were carried out as a circle introduction, followed by work in smaller groups, either all groups simultaneously working on different tasks of the camera-activity set, or one group working on the camera while the other groups are working on “ordinary” subjects in corners. Most student-teachers chose a selection of 2 or 3 activities to be carried out sequentially. As these activities were always new to the children, they require an intensive guidance. All activities rely on materials; in the evaluations the materials are always mentioned as crucial success factors: they attract the attention and rise irresistible curiosity. The drawback of this aspect is that it takes a lot of effort to collect them and some materials are hard to find or relatively expensive.

 

-          interaction nursery school teacher - child, child – child

 

Intensive guidance by the teacher is required in most activities, because they need certain motoric skills or explanation/instruction. Limited numbers of materials (e.g. camera’s, models, lenses etc. ) stimulate co-operation even with the younger children who tend to work mostly ego-centric. They make many new discoveries that they are willing to share with other children.

 

-          educational aspects of the activity: usefulness, flexibility, needs answered, adaptability to the group, suitable for everyday routine

 

First it should be stated that photography apparently appeals to the interest of a wide range of age groups: both young children (age 4-5) and older children (age 10-12) are caught by it. It’s a subject from their every-day life that still has many secrets on many levels.

The activities of this series have been offered to several age-groups. The results were very positive, even more than expected, as declared by the student-teacher and their coaches. The question where it is most fruitful and appropriate is associated directly with the aims.

It is mentioned several times that on the level of understanding the mechanics of the camera and of the way an image of an original object is projected, results with younger children are very poor. Also the motoric skills required often are a bottle neck. However, this doesn’t affect the enthusiasm to work on it. General opinion of teachers is that the level of many activities is too high for Kindergarteners; they are more suitable for older children.

It should be clear to the users that there is no prescribed sequence in these activities. In that case there is sufficient flexibility. Maybe the activities can be grouped into orientation-, core- and assimilation-activities. Some proposals of arrangements and organisation-models can be helpful.

Comments are made about the usefulness of the camera as a subject for education: the use as a tool for journalistic, artistic and personal use can be elaborated and open possibilities for connections with other topics and thematic education.

 

-     contribution to the development of competencies: technical, social, scientific

 

Scientific: children investigate (inside of a camera, movement of components, characteristics of lenses etc), they discover direct causal relationships (distance – focus, diaphragm – light intensity). The camera as a tool can direct the attention and view of children to learn observe more critical.

Technical: by investigating, using and handling technical devices children became familiar with them, the components and their functions. The whole lesson-series makes them aware of the technical aspects of everyday life. Comparison of old and recent types of camera’s makes them aware of progression and development in time.

Social: improvement takes place of self-confidence and co-operation. They learn to take responsibility for materials and handle them with care.

 

B. The child and learning

-          How do children react to the activity? (handling the material, curiosity, questions, autonomy, gender)

 

Children react enthusiastic on the activities, without exception. The concrete materials attract their attention and curiosity in a very strong way. Like with many physical experiments, it is a bit like magic for them. Most student-teachers and coaches were astonished how strong and long lasting this subject holds the attention of young children. In fact, in most cases more time was required.

As it is quite expensive and vulnerable material, quite intensive guidance is required.

However in most cases it appears to be very well possible to leave children working independently with camera’s and other equipment, which has a stimulating influence on their autonomy.

No specific gender issues or differences were reported.

 

 

-          How do children treat each other? (co-operation, mutual help, gender)

 

The amount of materials and the formulation of tasks sometimes need co-operation( e.g.: one camera per group, photographer-model roles etc). No specific remarks about gender were made.

 

-          What do children learn? (knowledge, behaviour, attitudes)

 

knowledge:

 

• children can recognise that there are different types of camera’s; they can identify some similarities and differences.
• children can recognise pictures of camera’s
• children know in what kind of lecture real pictures can be found
• children know what pictures can be used for.
• children know that light is an essential part of photography

• children know some elementary components of a camera, like black box, lens, film, buttons
• children understand that these are essential parts of a camera, and that the camera functions because of these

 

behaviour:

motoric skills:

• children are able to construct a pinhole camera
• children can take pictures with a simple camera

social:

• children learn to choose an object to take a picture from.
• children can share a device (camera) to work with.
• children can work together with limited materials

 

 

attitudes:

• children feel  self-confident because of succes-experiences like making collages, a pinhole camera, taking pictures and because they are trusted to work independently with a camera.
• children can tell and share what they have learned and experienced
• children are interested in the subject
• children can handle a camera with care
• children show interest in each others results

 

-          Do children stick with the activity? (motivation, manipulation, questioning)

 

Yes, very much ! Motivation is extremely high. Children can manipulate very much and this appears to be one of the strongest stimuli to keep them stick to the activity. Several times was mentioned that either the children or the student-teachers asked for more time on this subject. The reactions of the coaches were unanimously positive. Some of the remarked that they will repeat this activity next year.

 

C. Suggestions of the nursery school teacher

 

• some activities fit better with older ages, especially if you aim at understanding abstract principles or products that require advanced motoric skills.
• some of the activities require too expensive materials.
• environmental aspects should be considered.
• the doorstep for the activities concerning exposure and development of film/photographic paper is too high: a more elaborate description and easier access to the materials is necessary.
• integration with other subjects, such as arts, research, geography, history, nature, language and so on can be easily obtained by looking at photography as a tool/instrument. It would be useful to add some examples of a more thematic approach with meaningful activities.