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Phase III -- Pursuing the investigation

The third phase is both detailed and open-ended. Based on questions raised about the image, students can examine the image in more detail, compare the image with the other sources of information, search for other images of the same location or similar features, and in general use the image as the central aspect of a student-driven investigation. The key to this phase is making sure that students have real personal interests in the image and that the questions they investigate emerge from this interest. As Bertrand Russell said "Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire."

Some insights on this process from scientists who routinely use images in their research:

Look at the big picture and the details - You need to shift your thinking back and forth between the broad context (which extends beyond the image itself) and the little details. For example, in examining an image of a section of a river, you should understand the full flow of the river: where does it originate? what tributaries feed into it? what terrain does it flow through? You also need to look at the details shown in the image: does it meander? how steep are the banks? is there evidence of erosion caused by the river? The big picture and small details inform each other.

What are the surprises? - Often the most fruitful lines of investigation derive from mysteries. Why does the river turn here? Why is the city in that particular location? What is causing the smoke? Why are there clouds over the Gulf but not the nearby land? The more students study images, the more observant they will be anomalies, and the more these anomalies will spark their curiosity.

Stay with the image for a while - Scientists often spend an extended period of time examining individual images. The longer they look, the more they see. So encourage your students to stick with their investigation, going deeper and extending it in new directions. This is like the concept of "wait time" when you ask questions in class.

Cross-reference - To investigate an image, your students should cross-reference with other resources. Encourage your students to look at physical and political maps of the same region, compare with thematic maps showing vegetation or population patterns and learn about the human and geologic history of the region. The more your students learn and the richer the variety of resources, the more they will see in the images.

Teacher's Guide                    Page 9.16