Educational Outreach '07

Our first year of educational outreach had confirmed our beliefs that the visual nature of the technology would be very appealing to youngsters. In 2007, we developed the second module in the course sequence which included the use of our sofware to identify dolphins based on their dorsal fin outlines. One of the challenges of the educational outreach component of our program this year was to identify a group of young people with which we could interact. In 2006, we delivered our educational program through the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP). However in 2007, no institutions in Florida received Congressional funding for the program. We contacted a local church, the Mount Zion Baptist Church, whose youth pastor, Eric Ford, is a 2001 graduate of Eckerd. We worked through Mount Zion's Summer Camp program to deliver a two day workshop on the Eckerd Campus. The two course modules, of approximately two hours each, were delivered to a group of approximately twenty students in a two day sequence. Students learned not only about the mathematical concepts underlying the imaging technology, but also the biological aspects of the study of dolphins.

Again this year, students worked in a computer laboratory on the Eckerd campus to learn how digital images are represented in the computer. They learned about the representation of color in the computer, and the differences bewteen additive color (emitted light) and subtractive color (reflected light). They used the GNU Image Manipulation Program to experiment with color on the computer. They also learned about the mathematics behind basic imaging modifications, such as the creation of a digital negative, brightness adjustment, contrast enhancement and the use of digital filters to create special effects such as embossing. We took photos of each group of students and they used the images to explore other special effects possible with digital imaging software.

Students from the Mount Zion Baptist Church Summer Program in the computer laboratory learning to use the GNU Image Manipulation Program.

Working in pairs or alone, the students had a hands-on opportunity to use mathematical formulas to change the appearance of digital images of themselves.

On the second day of the workshop, Eckerd College students involved in the biological aspects of research gave a lecture on the methodology of photo identification and explained why scientists would need to recognize individual animals in the wild. Following the lecture, the youngsters were given a mock collection of sighting photos and a small database of previously identified individuals. They had the opportunity to apply concepts from the lecture to perform their own photo-ID using the DARWIN software developed under this grant.

Learning how to identify dolphins from their dorsal fin images

Students, ages 10-13, who participated in the Eckerd workshop on image processing and manipulation - Summer 2007