Ideas to Inspire

Photographs are great primary resources, but students don’t always know how to get information from photos. Image Detective is a free educational site that takes students through the same method that historians use to interpret photos for historical evidence. The photos are US history photos, but students can use them to practice, and then teachers can bring in their own photos that pertain to the unit.

Students are asked to choose a photo. I was a little disappointed that there’s just one photo per topic, but when you see the depth and breadth of each photo task, then it’s still a marvelous tool.

Once students choose a topic (I chose industrialization), then they are prompted to start by posing a question. Just like historians, students will pose questions, but there are actually several questions available as samples. The first is simple and descriptive, while the others call for more interpretation; you may want to direct younger children to the first, and older children to the second or third. Students can also pose their own question – and can change their questions as they dig deeper.

Students choose an option above to get to the next stage: gathering clues.

Next, students will scan the picture, looking for details that intrigue them. The yellow boxes highlight areas that might be of interest – students can choose whichever they want. In the pop-up box, encourage students first to describe what they observe, without making any judgement. Then encourage them to speculate about what the detail might mean — to make intelligent guesses just like historians do. Clues are saved and the students must title or categorize each clue. They continue to observe and create clues.

Historians filter what they see through a vast amount of background knowledge — of the period, of similar documents, and of arguments about the past. Children’s prior knowledge is far less – but they can use what they DO know very effectively. Ask students “What do you know about this?” “How is this different than what you’d expect?” Students can also read a little background about the picture and the time period by clicking the button.

Students draw their conclusions on this page — really, their speculations or intelligent guesses. Encourage them to cite reasons or evidence for their ideas, as well as new questions they have.

Finally, students can see their conclusion and compare it to different write ups from historians, middle school students, high school student, and teachers. Students are encouraged to note similarities and differences between their thinking and others’, and use these insights as they tackle more interpretations.