Working with Digital Cameras and a Projector

After winning the Best Buy Teach Award I was able to purchase 8 Kodak Easyshare digital cameras for a project titled the Online Science Fair. The fair isn't set to begin until May so I've been trying to dream up ways to put the cameras to use until then. Normally this wouldn't be too difficult; however, the computer labs in my school are booked solid through the month of April so that teachers can use our test prep software to get kids ready for the Ohio Achievement Test. When you're working in a digital (paperless) world, computers and digital cameras go together.

Luckily, each camera came with an AV cable. I can plug one end of this cable into my camera and the other into my LCD projector and actually show photos from the camera on my projector. In addition, I can also show videos that I record with the camera on the big screen.

So it seems that computers are not absolutely necessary to put digital cameras to use in the classroom. I have yet to have my students take photos on the cameras and present them for the class, but I'm already planning projects that will allow students to use the cameras in this way.

Another use for the camera is as a document camera/projector. When you plug the AV cable in and turn on the camera, the color display on the back of the camera is projected. With the camera it's possible to get a close up of not only documents but small objects that are hard to display to the class.

Read more about digital cameras in the classroom at misterteacher.com.


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