Adobe K-12 Digital School Collection Benefits
Digital School Collection teacher resources
Technology integration is a key mechanism for augmenting classroom instruction while teaching students essential digital communication skills that will help them become lifelong learners in the digital age. Use these lesson plans to structure projects using the Adobe® Digital School Collection when teaching about math and science, language arts, history/social studies, and visual and performing arts.
Using netbooks? Find teacher resources using Adobe Photoshop® Elements 8 for netbooks.
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Lesson plans
Jump to lesson:
Math and science
- Geometric Concepts (ages 8–10)
- Graph Plotting (ages 8–11)
- Marine World Digital Encyclopedia (ages 8–13)
- Patterns (ages 6–8)
- Plant Growth (ages 9–13)
- Visualization of the Atom (ages 11–17)
- Volcano Eruption (ages 9–13)
Language arts
- Alliteration Poem (ages 10–13)
- Creating Suspense (ages 11–15)
- Dolch Word Practice (ages 5–7)
- Podcasts (ages 13–17)
- Storyboards (ages 11–14)
- Understanding Idioms (ages 11–13)
- Video Narratives (ages 14–17)
- Visual Dictionary (ages 11–17)
- Visual Pun Fun (ages 11–17)
History/social studies
- A Person in Time Online (ages 11–17)
- Advertising Poster for a Political Candidate (ages 11–13)
- Civic Documentaries (ages 11–17)
- Oral and Visual Histories (ages 10–13)
Visual and performing arts
- Collages (ages 10–13)
- Digital Dali: Surrealism in Art Today (ages 8–10)
- Impressionist Artwork (ages 8–14)
- Pioneers of Music (ages 11–17)
Math and science
Geometric Concepts
In this lesson, students define geometry terms and then take photos of geometric figures that illustrate examples of their use in the real world. As a final product, they create a vocabulary Photo Book in Photoshop Elements that combines their definitions with their photo examples.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Graph Plotting
In this lesson, students use a preexisting image to create a dot-to-dot image along x and y axes in Photoshop Elements. They then create a list of ordered pairs for which they apply mathematical problem-solving skills by locating coordinates of the ordered pairs and plotting lines to re-create the picture on graph paper.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Marine World Digital Encyclopedia
Students will create web pages to communicate information demonstrating their understanding of an academic concept. They begin by gathering information and images about marine life. They then use Adobe Contribute® CS4 to add text, links, and images to a page on the class website.
- Marine World school setup, teacher and student guides
- Marine World school setup, teacher and student guides (British English version)
- Marine World Contribute CS4 website templates
Patterns
In this lesson, students, working in groups, construct a visual pattern in Photoshop Elements according to a set of rules. They then test their rules by making predictions. Finally, after swapping their patterns, each group identifies the rules and makes predictions based on the rules.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Plant Growth
In this lesson, students grow a plant, use digital photography to collect data about its growth, and create a time-lapse video in Adobe Premiere® Elements to present their findings. This activity enables students to investigate plant growth and begin to learn the complex task of collecting data.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Visualization of the Atom
Students will demonstrate their understanding of abstract concepts through the creation of a visual representation of the concept. In this lesson, students create visual representations of the atom to illustrate their understanding of the atom and its elements.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Volcano Eruption
In this lesson, students draw pictures in Photoshop Elements showing how lava moves through the core of a volcano during an eruption. They then create a time-lapse video in Adobe Premiere Elements, using these pictures to replicate a volcanic eruption.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Language arts
Alliteration Poem
In this lesson, students write their own alliteration-style poems, create a visual illustration of the poems, and publish them using Photoshop Elements. This activity enables students to structure text and visualize ideas in innovative ways, helping them think critically about the concepts as they construct their final products.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Creating Suspense
In this lesson, students use Adobe Premiere Elements to write short scripts and make a movie that creates a suspenseful moment. Students learn about techniques used in literature and filmmaking that create tension, and they employ this knowledge to create scenes that surprise, intrigue, and confound the audience.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Dolch Word Practice
In this lesson, students enhance their reading skills by using Photoshop Elements to create visual representations of Dolch words used in sentences. Students turn their creations into flash cards so they can continue to practice recognizing Dolch sight words to improve reading fluency.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Podcasts
In this lesson, students write short scripts and make a podcast in Adobe Soundbooth® CS4. Topical podcasts can be made for most academic subject areas to enable students to explore a line of inquiry and convey meaning through script writing and commentary. Students learn how to creatively express their ideas through this novel medium.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Storyboards
In this lesson, students select a poem, identify the poetic devices, sketch a storyboard, and make a video for the poem. By doing this activity, students learn about presenting a story in pictures and about chronological order. They also learn about the importance of storyboards in creating digital movies.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Understanding Idioms
In this lesson, students investigate the literal and figurative meanings for idioms by visualizing their ideas in Photoshop Elements. These visualizations offer a different way to structure information, which can lead to students being able to identify new connections and draw new conclusions.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Video Narratives
In this lesson, students will take one scene from a work of literature, videotape it, and then tell the rest of the story by using animated titles in Adobe Premiere Elements. Students will use video production skills to adapt a story and in the process learn about the art of storytelling, scene selection, and distinguishing important from unimportant details.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Visual Dictionary
In this lesson, students define a word visually using Photoshop Elements and add it to their class visual and audio dictionary. Students analyze a word and construct a visual representation of its meaning, thereby building higher order thinking skills.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Visual Pun Fun
In this lesson, students create a visual pun — a play on images where students use two or more images to form a new meaning. Using Photoshop Elements, students combine unrelated images and employ interesting effects to create their visual puns. This lesson helps students use technology to enhance their language arts skills and to improve communication of their ideas.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
History/social studies
A Person in Time Online
Students will conduct research on a historical figure and then design a web page based on how this person would want to be represented on the Internet. During this project, students will learn about primary and secondary resources, cite research, and make a case for their web page decisions.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Advertising Poster for a Political Candidate
In this lesson, students research a historical figure and create a mock advertising poster in Photoshop Elements that includes a campaign logo and slogan. They then present their posters to the class and explain how their poster design and campaign slogan were informed by what they learned about the life and times of their historical figure.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Civic Documentaries
Students will choose an issue that affects them, the school, or their community to document in a short movie. Students will interview individuals on both sides of the issue, integrate video clips, create the documentary, and write a reflection detailing the learning process.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Oral and Visual Histories
In this lesson, students interview someone about their visual and sense memories of an event and use those memories to create an oral and visual history. They then use the interview for creating a digital video in Adobe Premiere Elements and Soundbooth CS4.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Visual and performing arts
Collages
In a variety of academic subjects and concepts, students can use collages combined with audio clips to convey meaning and understanding by visually representing their ideas and communicating a story. In this lesson, students investigate the architecture of a certain time or place and visually represent the style in a collage.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Digital Dali: Surrealism in Art Today
In this lesson, students turn everyday digital photographs into surrealist-style artwork using Photoshop Elements. This activity helps students enhance their creativity and better understand surrealistic techniques by working with lighting, color, and movement to transform their pictures.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Impressionist Artwork
Students will explore the impact of photography on impressionism by taking photographs around the school to turn into impressionist works of art. Students will illustrate their understanding of impressionist-era work through the different imaging techniques they choose to use.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
- Sample final project and media assets
Pioneers of Music
Students will choose a piece of music that they find interesting or transcendent; analyze the piece for its theoretical music form; research the historical and social context of the music and artist; collect supporting historical artifacts; evaluate the piece of music; narrate and record their commentary on top of the musical piece; and package and present a portfolio of their project.
- Lesson plan and supporting guides
- Lesson plan and supporting guides (British English version)
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