USES OF DOCUMENT CAMERAS.............????

At the beginning of this year, I was supplied with a document camera for my second grade class. In short, I wanted to start this discussion in order to throw around some ideas for using the document camera in a classroom. I have used it in the following ways:
-Making every book a big book...shared reading experience
-students showing and explaining their work (especially in math)
-put a timer underneath the camera for variopus applications
-capture student work
-conduct science experiments with insects
-students sharing writing
-shared writing experiences
-word sorting
-math manipulatives
-discussing and displaying homework

Anyone else?

Tags: assessment, cameras, centers, computer, document, math, reading, science, shared, sharing, More…

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Permalink Reply by Colin Davitt on January 9, 2008 at 7:55am

I am giving a presentation at the METC about document cameras. Here is my link to the wiki I am slowly building.
http://elmoideas.pbwiki.com/

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Permalink Reply by Jane Krauss on January 11, 2008 at 9:33am

Thank you for the wiki!!! This is a WONDERFUL start!

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Permalink Reply by Jane Krauss on January 11, 2008 at 9:29am

I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm looking for ways it can be used as more than an overhead projector (most typical use).
Since this was a math post, I'll limit ideas to math, particularly problem-solving. Several ideas:
1) I Take advantage of the camera function so you can take snapshots. This will be GREAT for recording stages in a process or change over time.
2) In math problem-solving that benefits from guess and check, drawing, or other "making your thinking visible" methods have small groups of students work together to formulate a response to a problem (not just the answer, the process for arriving at it too). Elect one representative from each group to "think aloud" as they write under the doc camera, drawing and discussing the stages of problem-solving. Take snaps at integral stages.
3) In math problem-solving use the doc camera to take a photo of a problem and solution (use a kid's). Put it in your teacher blog and have students individually respond to the query: How might the writer have arrived at this solution?
4) Have kids build arrays, patterns, illustrated number sentences, other work to show under the doc camera. If they are using manipulatives have them build them in trays so they are portable to the doc camera station.
Still thinking...

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Permalink Reply by Colin Davitt on January 11, 2008 at 9:47am

I had a teacher use the elmo exactly as you have stated in your #1. He had each child take a type of a problem for a specific chapter. Then each step of the problem was written on a peice of paper. Each paper was then photographed with the elmo. The images were then imported into moviemaker to create a video on the steps to solving the math problem. It was simply amazing!
You can also have a child who is having a lot of issues with a probelm create a how to video. They will be learning how to construct/deconstruct the difficult probelm.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Charles Sennott on January 13, 2008 at 6:02pm

My friend presented on this topic at Closing the Gap this past October. For children and teens with special needs this tool can be a powerful way to make literacy more easily accessible. My favorite idea is to:

Daily read a book as a shared reading with the class and as you go, do screen captures so that you are doubling up by creating an accessible book. On a prep time, you can quickly grab your screen captures and put them into PowerPoint, Intellitools Classroom Suite, or Clicker 5.

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Permalink Reply by Kristen Bender on January 14, 2008 at 3:59pm

I teach fourth grade, and I have even used the document camera to demonstrate how to mix colors or make specific art projects.

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Permalink Reply by Michal on January 14, 2008 at 5:10pm

I have also demonstrated how to do origami and bookmaking - great for when you are working small and need all students to see what you're doing.

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Permalink Reply by Roberta Svegel on May 27, 2008 at 8:32am

What kind of document camera do you have? I am looking for recommendations. I'd like to try grantwriting to obtain document cameras for the special ed department at our school and would appreciate any guidance as to features to consider, price range and any other related information.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Colin Davitt on May 27, 2008 at 8:52am

We have always used ELMO but I really like Avermedia. The camera will cost about 600-900 and then the projector will be about the same. You are looking at a total cost of about 1,500 to 2,000.
Funding - take a took at eschoolnews.com

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Permalink Reply by Jarod on October 14, 2008 at 12:37pm

We really like the elmo tt-02s. The tt in that stands for teacher's tool. They can be bought for around $550 and have a whole lot of cool bells and whistles including a sd card slot to capture pictures to or to display pictures from. They also work well with microscopes.

http://www.elmousa.com/flash/TT02s/index.html - Demo

http://www.elmousa.com/files/ShowMeGreatLessons!.pdf - Lesson Plan Ideas

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Permalink Reply by Kara Norris on August 31, 2008 at 6:33am

I just used mine last week to create a large picture of a dragon head for our Mandarin classroom wall. I had a picture I printed off the web, stuck that under the camera and had the kids go to work. I can't wait to see or finished dragon on our wall!
I have also used in science class for demonstrations. Works well on observing diffusion with water and food coloring.

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Brown on September 8, 2008 at 12:19pm

We have cameras with Avermedia software. Do you have any software that allows you to write or draw over the image? Ours also capture video that is easily added to a podcast. I'm watching all my teachers discover the possibilities. I'll let you know as I get more ideas.

Combine it with a Wii remote and you have the perfect interactive white board experience.