5.+Digital+Images+-+Digital+Resource+Evaluation+1

=__Digital Images__=

Digital images (as well as other forms of multimedia) can be useful tools in teaching maths for several reasons, but particularly, because they can assist in bringing real world relevance and engagement into the classroom. The use of digital images in the maths classroom has been inspired by the philosophies of Dan Meyer, who believes that presenting real-life scenarios through photo and video makes maths problems 'irrestible' to students. The following URL links to a video which outlines this belief, with examples of his ideas in more detail: []

An example of how digital images could be used in teaching about finding the area of compound shapes follows.

=__Using Digital Images - An Example__=



Take the above left digital image as an example. Instead of students simply looking at a black and white drawing or clipart of a yin yang symbol on their worksheet and trying to work out how to work out the area of the compound shape by breaking it up into circles, they can become engaged in the 'real-world' problem of planning how much grass of each type they will need for their very own oriental garden bed. The above right image has been included as a guide to calculating the area of a yin yang symbol.



=__Evaluation of the Usefulness of Digital Images__= The following is a table which has been included here to evaluate the usefulness of digital images as a digital resource to be used in teaching specific intended learning outcomes. A PMI strategy has been used in order to determine the positive, minuses and interesting points uncovered in the evaluation of the digital resource.


 * Positives || Minuses || Interesting ||
 * * Using digital images of 'real life' items allows students to become engaged in their learning.
 * Links to the real world
 * Visual learning
 * Problem based learning
 * Lifelong learning skills
 * Versatile (i.e. can be printed on, used in PowerPoints or on websites etc).
 * Helps students to see maths as valuable in real world application. || * Takes teacher creativity to come up with problems to support the images use
 * Takes teacher time to find or take suitable digital images/photos. || * Using editing, the teacher may include information and set the dimensions of the shape at whatever size they choose, or leave information out, depending on how difficult they would like the problem to be for the students. ||