Day 5

It was the last day of camp. In order for the stdents to see how the gigapan stitcher combines the images I printed out photographs of the gigapan with the students and their paperbags. The students pieced them together like a puzzle and immediately noticed how the images tended to overlap. They worked together very well and were able to find any extra photographs.
After that I wanted to show them how the macro setting on the camera could take a close-up gigapan. They created a landscape made with paper, string, Play-Doh and yellow cotton balls. They creatively worked together to set up an interesting landscape. Then we took a gigapan of the landscape.


Piecing together the puzzle


Standing in the order of their photographs in the pieced-together gigapan.



Making a landscape.



Taking a gigapan of the landscape.

Day 4

We came back to the Community Center to look at the gigapans of the zoo, and to try to find the hidden flags in the two gigapans we took Day 2. We split the students into two groups. The younger students went outside to take a gigapan panorama, while the older students stayed inside to explore the gigapan.org site and the gigapan educational site. After that we switched the groups and the younger students got to explore the websites.
The final activity of the day was to write what they liked or didn't like about the gigapan on a paper bag and design it to be worn. Then we headed outside to take a gigapan of the students and their paper bags.


The older students taking a gigapan and creating a story with the image.


Making the paper bags to describe how they feel about the gigapan


Helping take a gigapan of the students and their paper bags.

Day 3

Trip to the Zoo. Students picked two spots at the zoo to do a gigapan. They were excited to use the gigapan at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Each of them was given one task, like getting the tripod ready, attaching the camera to the gigapan unit, setting up the top left and bottom right of the picture and locking the exposure in the camera. People at the zoo kept watching us, they were intrigued by the gigapan and how well the students handled the set up. I noticed that the students felt that they were very important because people wanted to know what they were doing, the people were interested by what the students had to say about the gigapan.

Day 2

Students reviewed the camera and gigapan settings. We all went to the library to research countries from Africa and Europe. Each student wrote a phrase about their chosen country which were selected by pictures of a flag on top of the country's shape. Students were split into two groups and they switched flags and went outside to take a gigapan of their friends' flag maps. On Day 4 they will be able to use the gigapan.education.org site and search for their country. Students will be given a username and password to access their account. While in the site they can start a conversation by zooming in on the flags, which were "hidden" around the gigapan picture.



Look for the flag maps here:

Day 1

Students became familiar with the manual mode of a point and shoot camera. Each of them took 5 images and they shared their favorite one. They connected the point and shoot camera to the gigapan unit. Each group was able to take one gigapan image. The students were thrilled to see the gigapan unit moving by itself after they programmed the machine to work together with a camera. They loved the idea of having bits and pieces of their body in multiple places.