Library of Congress

One of the requisite skills in any History class is the ability to analyze photographs.

In a previous post, I wrote about a website, called Image Detective, that provides a great activity for students to practice analyzing photographs.

I will describe another activity that practices this skill.  The students in my History class completed this activity and they seemed to enjoy it.

Step 1: Create an account at www.flickr.com.

Step 2: Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/.

Here you will find thousands of historical photographs.  Flickr users can highlight sections of the photographs and post comments on the photographs.  It is actually amusing to read what people have written.

Step 3: Choose a photograph and comment on some interesting detail of that photograph.

Image Detective

One of the skills that I must teach to the students in History is how to analyze a historical photograph.

Today, I instructed the students to complete the activity at the Image Detective and to post the results on their blogs. 

It is a nice little activity that is well constructed. 

Students are guided to choose a historical photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, pose a question and search for clues to answer their question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, draw a conclusion.

As I stated, the final results produced by the students showed that they had effectively analyzed their chosen photographs.