Thing #7, Explore Flickr

Flickr is a wonderful photo-sharing site. We as educators can use this to our advantage in order to give our visual learners that extra help in understanding a concept we are trying to teach them. Just as everyone else has stated, "A picture is worth a thousand words".

So picture this, I am trying to draw a 3D image on the whiteboard in my class. I am not very artistic and my drawing is sloppy, uneven, and some students are just shaking their heads while others are just confused as to where I am going with this.

Today I wanted to show my students how we use Length x Width x Height to calculate cubic measurement. I am failing miserably due to my poor artistic skills.

www.flickr.com to the rescue! By using Flickr I choose this photo

by jannetajeda. I used the tag Geometry.
Full link to photo on Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/photos/75772294@N07/6960635765/

I then ask my students to start brainstorming and to "think" what this picture shows us. I ask what words come to mind. I can use this photo to clearly explain that the Length x Width x Height = Cubic Measurement. I also get to spare my students the expense of seeing how horrible I am drawing.

By the way, 3x3x3 = 27 cubic boxes

Thanks Flickr,
and
Thank you for reading,
John P. Collins