Time-Lapse Photography in the Elementary Classroom - Matthew Devlin

8/10/2019 Time-Lapse Photography in the Elementary Classroom - Matthew Devlin

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Time-lapse Photographyin the Elementary Science Classroom

The goal of science in the classroom should not be to memorizefacts and data, but to get students involved in the scientificprocess and have them ask questions, make hypotheses,experiment, and make observations. Students will learn the mostfrom experiences that are hands-on, interactive, exploratory, and

relevant. The Ontario Science and Technology Curriculum tells us that having students draw simple conclusions on thebasis of observations and identifying patterns in the observed data is a fundamental objective in the elementary scienceclassroom.

One of the most limiting factors in timed observations lies in how we perceive time. As human beings we perceive timerelatively slowly, second-by-second, minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day. If the changes in what we areobserving take place slowly we may not be able to perceive them. If time is sped up, however, these changes maybecome more evident, pronounced, and observable. This is why time-lapse photography can be such an excellent tool inthe science classroom. It engages the learner by offering them a fresh and unique observational perspective.

Broadly defined, time-lapse photography is the process of taking a series of pictures at regular, timed intervals from astatic viewpoint. Events or processes that appear subtle to the human eye, such as the movement of people on a crowdedstreet, or the movement of clouds in the sky, become very pronounced and patterns that otherwise may have goneunnoticed become more obvious. While special time-lapse cameras do exist, many inexpensive point-and-shoot digitalcameras now come equipped with a time-lapse video recording setting. If the camera you are using does not have this as

a built-in feature, free software such as Windows Movie Maker can be used to speed up video playback. This makes thecreation of quality lapse photography both affordable and accessible for most elementary schools.

Let us examine several practical examples of using time-lapse photography in the Grade 1-6 classroom. The Ontario Curriculum tells us that change, the process of becoming different over time, is one of the fundamental concepts ofscience (Ontario, p.5, 2007). Being able to witness change, from the unique perspective of time-lapse photography,would be a great opportunity for any science student and would speak to a wide range of student ability. An experimentinvolving time-lapse photography would address a number of Gardners Multiple Intelligences: Logical-Mathematical

Volume 32 4 March 201

By Matthew DevlinMatthew Devlin was a pre-service teacher at Trent University when he wrote this article. Matthew was a recipient of the2010 Don Galbraith Pre-service Teacher Award of Excellence with this submission.

Time-lapse Photography

ELEMENTS online

This information is recommended for use with the Ontario Curriculum, all grades and all levels. General science.

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learners could formulate and test hypotheses, Spatial learners could organize and set up photo shoots, Musicallearners could add music to time-lapsed photography in post-production, Bodily-Kinesthetic learners could involvethemselves as a subject in the photo shoot, and Naturalist learners could be the ones who recognize the patterns intime-lapsed photography (Ormond, p.109, 2003). Keeping the Science Curriculum in mind, Grade 1 students couldrecord clouds passing in the sky while they investigate daily and seasonal changes. Grade 2 students could record aworm moving around in a box while they demonstrate that animals grow and change and have distinct characteristics.Grade 3 students could record a blooming flower in order to demonstrate an understanding that plants grow andchange and have distinct characteristics. Grade 4 students could record student movement on the playground whilethey analyse the effect of human activities on habitats and communities. Grade 5 students could record melting ice asthey conduct investigations that explore the properties of matter and changes in matter. Grade 6 students couldrecord a sunrise/sunset in order to demonstrate an understanding of components of the systems of which the Earth isa part, and explain the phenomena that result from the movement of different bodies in space.

Why use time-lapse photography? Could not students make the same observations in real-time and simply skip thephotography part all together? Well, in some cases certainly, but time-lapse photography provides students with a trulyunique observational perspective. It forces them to see an event from an entirely different point of view than they areused to. Scientific observations are almost always done spatially we literally look at our subject from different angles,or we use magnification, etc. If we do alter time, then usually it is the subject that we speed up or slow down we catcha swimming fish to examine its fins, or we slow a wheel down to examine its spokes. With time-lapse photographyhowever, we the scientific observer are the variable being altered. The implications of this are fascinating. Watchinga snail move across the ground in time-lapsed photography might expose us to patterns of movement we would haveotherwise missed. Watching an ice cube melt in time-lapsed photography might expose us to patterns in the change instate of matter we might otherwise not see. Time-lapse photography is certainly not limited to the subject of Science

either. It involves the curricular areas of Technology (the use of cameras and computers to view/edit) as well as Art(the staging and production of the video). Time-lapse photography could be used in almost every subject throughoutthe curriculum.

The extent to which time-lapse photography is used in the classroom depends on a number of factors. Time andtechnology are the two biggest. Finding time in the day to create these videos could be quite difficult considering thelimited amount of time allocated to science in school curriculums. The availability of cameras and computers is anotherlimiting factor. At the very least, students should be exposed to time-lapse photography. High quality, professionallyshot, time-lapse photography can be found quite easily on the Internet and can teach us a great deal about the worldaround us. Involving students, however, by having them create their own time-lapse photography, would be an

engrossing, enriching, educational and memorable experience.

To see examples of time-lapse photography created by the author please visit:http://www.youtube.com/user/ceclix#p/a/u/2/T5ReJ9rGVC0 .

Volume 32 4 March 201Time-lapse Photography Page 2

ELEMENTS online www.stao.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceclix#p/a/u/2/T5ReJ9rGVC0http://www.youtube.com/user/ceclix#p/a/u/2/T5ReJ9rGVC0http://www.stao.org/http://www.youtube.com/user/ceclix#p/a/u/2/T5ReJ9rGVC0http://www.stao.org/


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Annotated Bibliography Allen, T. (2009). Time Lapse Photography . Retrieved January 13, 2010, fromhttp://timothyallen.blogs.bbcearth.com/2009/02/24/time-lapse-photography/(This article offered information about the physical set-up of a time-lapse photography shoot as well as some of itsscientific applications.)

Cothran, K. (2009, November 15). Exploring Changing States of Matter With Time Lapse Photography in Elementary School . Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Exploring-Changing-States-of-Matter-With-Time-Lapse-Photography-in-Elementary-School&id=1832641(This article offered some ideas for using time-lapse photography in a classroom, as well as some of the pedagogy thatgoes with it)

Lightbody, T. (2009, November 15). Time Lapse Photography . Retrieved January 7, 2010, fromhttp://www.zardec.net.au/keith/lapse2.htm(This article offered information about the physical set-up of a time-lapse photography shoot as well as some of itsscientific applications)

Ontario Ministry of Education (2008) The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1 8: Science and Technology . Toronto.(This document provided information about the Ontario Science curriculum. It served as the backbone for my time-lapsephotography research.)

Ormond, J. E. (2003). Educational Psychology - Developing Learners (4th ed., ). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.(This book provided information about multiple intelligences and learning styles. I used this information to inform my

suggestions for time-lapse photography projects as well as the methodology behind using time-lapse photography inthe classroom)

Rejcek, P. (2008, April 14). A Year in the Life . Retrieved January 9, 2010, from the Antarctic Connection site:http://www.antarcticconnection.com/ .(This article is no longer active on the site, but it provided scientific reasoningbehind time-lapse photography.)

Volume 32 4 March 201Time-lapse Photography Page 3

ELEMENTS online www.stao.org
http://timothyallen.blogs.bbcearth.com/2009/02/24/time-lapse-photographyhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Exploring-Changing-States-of-Matter-With-Time-Lapse-Photography-in-Elementary-School&id=1832641http://ezinearticles.com/?Exploring-Changing-States-of-Matter-With-Time-Lapse-Photography-in-Elementary-School&id=1832641http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/lapse2.htmhttp://www.antarcticconnection.com/http://www.stao.org/http://www.antarcticconnection.com/http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/lapse2.htmhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Exploring-Changing-States-of-Matter-With-Time-Lapse-Photography-in-Elementary-School&id=1832641http://ezinearticles.com/?Exploring-Changing-States-of-Matter-With-Time-Lapse-Photography-in-Elementary-School&id=1832641http://timothyallen.blogs.bbcearth.com/2009/02/24/time-lapse-photographyhttp://www.stao.org/

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Time-Lapse Photography in the Elementary Classroom - Matthew Devlin