Photo and image analysis

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Photo analysis allows students to work with primary sources in a non-traditional way. This hands-on approach gives students the opportunity to establish, modify and validate their own perceptions and understanding of history and geography. This document contains methodological and technological guidelines for analyzing period photos and documents using ICT.

Explore

Photo analysis enables students to develop their sense of observation, encourages them to formulate questions and make interpretations, and sharpens their critical faculties. Various factors influence how a photo is viewed and understood, including the reason why it was taken, the context in which it is presented, the information accompanying it and even the way it is physically framed.

 

 

Organize

Photo analysis also produces a diagram of sorts, once students have identified and described the key elements of an image: who, what, when (context, time and space), where and why (place and purpose). This exercise enables students to grasp and reflect upon the complexities of a society and formulate hypotheses.

For example:
Students can formulate hypotheses in response to the photo below by answering a few simple questions.


Source: Photo submitted by a student during a family heritage contest

When was this photo taken? Where was this photo taken? If the photo is from your family’s photo album, can you interview (oral source) the people in the photo (the actors) or people who knew these people (witnesses)?

Students can divide the elements they observe into the following categories:

 

Here is the same photo with annotations in text boxes created using a word processor. Step-by-step technological guides are available at the end of this document

Click here for bigger version

Note that the circles, text boxes and arrows were added to the photo using drawing tools that are available in most word processors (click here to see this photo analysis in Word). Vector graphics editors can also be used, such as AppleWorks Drawing, StarOffice Draw or OpenOffice Draw.

Gather more information about a problem

Students may conduct further research and validate their hypotheses using texts or other photos. They must first determine what their study topic is: sugar shacks, American influence, electricity, etc. This will help orient their research and facilitate data collection. For the example above, students could consult the Hydro-Québec site, the CBC Archives site or other reference materials in order to develop a better understanding of the evolution of hydroelectricity in Québec, if this is the topic they have chosen.

Communicate

Creating a poster

Students can then share the results of their observations and research by creating a poster, for example.

Students often do not employ visual elements to best effect when presenting the results of their intellectual endeavours. Instead, images are usually used as decorative elements. The poster they create should help solve or understand a problem, explain the evolution of a social reality and/or illustrate social change, as in the example below.

Historical narratives
Students can write a historical narrative by imagining dialogues between characters while using a history lexicon. They must understand the roles of the various people and main interest groups involved. They must also remember to include significant events and place them in the appropriate context and period.

To find out more about competency development using historical narratives, you can consult " Développer des compétences avec le récit historique" [in French only] on the website of the Service national du RÉCIT de l’univers social.

An article that describes strategies for using historical narratives in the history class can also be found here at Digital Historical Narratives.

How to select an image for class work

There are no strict rules governing the selection of images. By searching the Internet or looking through family albums or textbooks, you may find the perfect photo. However, our research shows that photos containing people, clear indications of the weather, machinery or technological elements (cars, electrical wires, planes) are more concrete for students and facilitate the process of reflection.

Where to find photos?

Websites containing galleries of period photos

Consult the bank of image galleries of the Service national du RÉCIT in the “Outils/Images” section to access period photos and documents.

Various sites with copyright-free media are also located here on the LEARN site.

Histografica:  Search tool for finding old photographs from around the world
http://www.histografica.com/

A few examples:

	Evangelisation of the Native peoples by the Récolets and the Sulpicians. Here is the plan of a Sulpician mission for the conversion of Aboriginals. The number of long houses is a good indication of the size of this mission Image source : New France: New Horizons
	Map of New France illustrating various aspects of Aboriginal life. Image source : New France: New Horizons
	The fur trade: influence of other cultures, trade, way of life, etc. Image source: McCord Museum
	Image characteristic of the Canadian West: steam locomotive and freight train at elevator. Image source: Canada Science and Technology Museum
	Women and the war effort. Image source : McCord Museum

Step-by-step technological guides :

How to copy and save images from the Internet:
www.d.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/SampleImages/SampleImagesGuide.html

How to use drawing tools in Word:

www.internet4classrooms.com/msword_toolbar_drawing.htm
www.pitt.edu/~edindex/OfficeXPTutorials/Lesson3XP.pdf

How to use StarOffice Draw or OpenOffice Draw:

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-7351/6mmm65g03?q=StarOffice+8&s=t&a=view

www.sun.com/aboutsun/comm_invest/giving/so8/docs/guide4-draw.pdf

How to use drawing tools in AppleWorks:

www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/wes/software_page/awdraw.pdf

How to use MS Paint (available with Windows):

www.lkwdpl.org/classes/MSPaint/paint.html

 

Presentation or training documents :

The following documents are provided by the Service national du RÉCIT de l’univers social to train teacher on how to analyze photos:

Click here for a training document suitable for elementary schools and for history classes from grade 4 to the secondary level. This example uses a photo taken from a student’s photo album.

 

Clickhere for a training document suitable for secondary schools. This example uses medieval illuminations.

 

Other photo analysis methods

“Working with Evidence” by Ian MacLaine on the Historica site:
www.histori.ca/prodev/lp.do?id=10979

“Using Pictures to Read the Past” on the Images Canada site:
www.imagescanada.ca/r1-302-e.html

“Les images médiatiques” on the CREM site:
www.reseau-crem.qc.ca/projet/profmed.htm [in French only]

Integration of ICT and Social Sciences work methodology

Photo analysis represents a significant learning opportunity for students. It must also be used within the context of a complex task that is meaningful to students, such as a situational problem or project. For an example of a methodological framework in Social Sciences that integrates technology tools, visit:

Integrating ICT into a social science work methodology -->

Translated from the original French site here http://recitus.qc.ca/methode/

This document was created by Steve Quirion in collaboration with Chantal Déry, a lecturer at Université de Montréal, and Michel Vincent, a lecturer at Université de Sherbrooke.

Translation and English equivalent sites suggested by LEARN.