Images Can be Used for Different Purposes

Using Images application

Activity:

1. Ask students to look through the applet called Using Images. Explain that this is a way of defining the purpose for which images can be used in a persuasive slide show.

2. Discuss with the class that there are two basic uses, to illustrate facts and to express a feeling. To show a fact, an image can either contain the information in what it shows, in which case it is being used as evidence, or it can show one example of something to define what it is. To show a feeling, the image can either be used to state an opinion about something or to decorate a slide to make it look nice.

3. Ask the students to find images (ideally representing different types) through Google Image Search - or pre-select a set of images - and ask them to brainstorm ways in which each image might be used as evidence, as example or to express an opinion.

     Example: Show a picture of a computer and ask students what context would make it evidence (possible answer: if it is part of an email telling a friend about the new computer you just got).

     Then ask them how the same image might be used as an example (possible answer: in an advertisement for a new electronics store.)

     Then ask them how the same image might be used as an opinion (possible answer: as part of a poster with the caption "My best friend")

 

 

 

 

The Main Idea


There are at least four distinctly different purposes for using an image in a persuasive slide show. Students have to understand what distinguishes them so they can find appropriate images to support their information.The important point is that each of the different types of images can be used for any of the purposes - so the purpose is determined by how the image is used, not by its type. A map or a chart is not automatically evidence any more than a photograph is automatically an example or a drawing is automatically an opinion or a decoration. In other words, students cannot find an image for different purposes in the abstract - the context defines how an image is used, not the content of the image.

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