Card

Pick a Pic

Students choose a photo that is representative of a lesson concept and share it with the class. Teachers or other learning participants may also use the strategy as a team-building exercise, sharing a photo that represents themselves.

Pick a Pic

Summary

This strategy includes variations as a student activity as well as for teacher audiences or adult learners. As a learning activity: Students choose an online picture that represents a concept, vocabulary word, or passage from a story. They write a caption underneath their chosen picture as an explanation of their choice. Pictures are uploaded to a shared space so that students can view or comment on others' work as a gallery exhibit. As a team-building activity for students or teachers: each participant chooses a picture from their phone that has special or personal meaning to them. They discuss their picture choice with the group on a shared space and share why it has meaning for them.

Procedure

Introduce a topic, vocabulary term, or selected text to students, either individually or to student groups.
Ask students to search the internet for an appropriate picture that represents the concept. After they choose a picture, students write a caption that describes the concept.
Students upload the picture to a shared space—Padlet, Google Docs, Google Photo Albums, Pic Collage, etc.—where all students can view the pictures in a gallery format.
Students explain the picture and discuss their rationale for the picture choice.

Ebner, M., and Bruff, D. (2010) Visual thinking. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/visual-thinking/#metaphors