What
is the focus of this module?
This activity,
"Strangers in Paradise," introduces the concept of what
a digital image is and how it relates to the real world. It involves
a simple training exercise on making linear and area measurements
using NIH Image software.
What
are some interrelated teaching opportunities? Aerial
photographs of nearly any location in the United States can be obtained
from your local Farm Service Agency of the Department of Agriculture
for a nominal cost (about $20 for a 20" x 20" photograph).
There is an FSA office in every county in the nation. Look in the
government pages of your local phone book.
An aerial photograph
of your school and the surrounding area can be scanned into your
computer as a digital image that can be manipulated in NIH Image.
Students can then physically measure distances between features
on the ground and compare those measurements to the ones they make
on the photo using NIH Image.
As an extension, students
can compare distances to stores, parks, amusement centers, and theaters
in their community to distances in Honolulu.
A map of your area can
be used with the aerial photo to introduce the idea of maps as representations
of real places and as travel guides.
Finally, the Honolulu
image and landmarks could serve as springboards into discussions
of geology, Polynesian history, economics, and even race relations.
Hawaii has had a fascinating history.
What
is the compelling problem that students will face in this activity?
The problem is to measure distances using image processing software.
The "Strangers in Paradise" activity provides a fascinating
training context for NIH Image Processing software but is not considered
by the designers to be a good example of problem-based learning.
What
tasks will students encounter as they work through this activity?
Students will need to learn how to locate the NIH Image program
on their machines and open an image of Honolulu. The situation will
challenge them to determine distances using the Honolulu image and
the measuring tools in the NIH Image processing software. They will
be asked to complete the following tasks:
- find the distance
from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel
to the Ala Moane Shopping Center
- measure the distance
to the golf course along the beach front
- measure the area inside
the rims of the Diamond Head and the Punchbowl volcanic craters.
Preparation
Checklist--have you thought of everything?
What
abilities and skills will students encounter as they work through
this activity?
In addition
to helping your students use NIH Image, and a computerized aerial
photo of Honolulu, this is also a good activity to introduce students
to learning in teams. Learning tasks
that encourage interactions in which everyone participates will
lead to greater learning gains than tasks in which one person takes
over and does the work (Cohen,1990). This "Team Approach"
as described in Project 2061: Science for all Americans states:
The collaborative nature
of scientific and technological work should be strongly reinforced
by frequent group activity in the classroom. Scientists and engineers
work mostly in groups and less often as isolated investigators.
Similarly, students should acquire experience-sharing responsibility
for learning with each other. In the process of coming to common
understandings, students in a group must frequently inform each
other about procedures and meanings, argue over findings, and assess
how the task is progressing. In the context of team responsibility,
feedback and communication become more realistic and of a character
very different from the usual individualistic textbook-homework-recitation
approach. (p. 202; AAAS, 1990).
Distances
in km from hotel... |
by
air |
by
street |
golf
course |
4.3 |
6.2 |
shopping
center |
2.4 |
2.9 |
Iolani
Palace |
4.5 |
5.0 |
Diamond
Head Measurements |
Area |
0.8
square km |
Rim
Circumference |
3.2
km |
Diameter
of Rim |
1.0
km |
Range
of Volcanic Rock |
0.8
to 1.0 km |
National
Cemetery (The Punch Bowl) Measurements |
Area |
0.2
square km |
Circumference
|
1.8
km |
Diameter |
.5
km |
|