The role photography plays today

Methodological steps

Start this activity with a survey about the role and importance of photography in the everyday life of teenagers. Use Google Forms or other tools (see the “questions” tools page) to create a survey. Briefly discuss survey results.

Analyse an art photograph of your choice with your students, focusing on specific art elements. You can use Google Arts & Culture or Wikimedia Commons to find works of art, and one of the video conferencing platforms (Zoom, Teams, etc.) for the explanation.

Refer students to a short video on the historical development of photography (e.g., The history of photography in 5 minutes). While watching the video, students should write down key words. Create a table in Mentimeter or any other digital tool and ask students to complete the table with advantages and disadvantages of digital photography in relation to analogue photography.

After they have finished, give them time to discuss the results briefly.
Divide students into four groups (you can open a separate Google Docs for each group). Ask each group one research question: Is the role of the photographer in today’s digital age underestimated? Does analog photography allow experimentation and creativity? Is the role of documentary, artistic and commercial photography equally important in society today? and What has influenced the return and application of old photographic techniques in modern times? Students draw conclusions through independent research and data analysis, which will help them answer the research question. You can also determine the specific procedures or guidelines that students need to follow during the research, as well as the components and levels of achievement of the evaluation criteria. The results of the research are presented in the form of a research poster or video (they can use the digital tool Canva, Piktochart, etc.).

After completing the research, students can publish their work in a shared virtual classroom, where they will evaluate them according to previously agreed and prepared criteria.

Skills assessment

Research learning achieves cooperation between students, develops organisational skills, ability to find and process data, critical thinking, as well as the ability to analyse and reach the conclusion while collaborating.

Students form their own argumentative view of photography as a medium which affects our everyday life. Given that photography is now a medium available to all, an “instant product” created with one “click”, the research of old photographic techniques, the analysis of art photography, the comparison of analogue and digital photography and other activities, changes and develops students’ perception of photography as a display of visual reality.

Communication

Communicate with students using videoconferencing (Zoom, Teams or similar), shared virtual classroom or shared documents. Students can communicate with each other using shared documents and Social Networks (WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or via videoconference.