Scanning Pictures

1. Anticipatory Set
- Focus/Transfer: Scanning pictures is like taking a picture of a picture, and be able to work with it with your computer. You can do a lot of things with your scanned picture: print out many copies, modify it, save it, send it by email, etc.!
- Objective: Students will learn how to scan pictures, save them, and edit them with a Painting program.

2. Instruction
What is a scanner?
- A scanner is an input device that “takes a picture of a picture”, or makes a black-and-white or color copy of a picture or document.

Steps to scan:
- You first need to have your scanner connected to your computer (of course!). Turn on your scanner (if it has a power button). Place your picture face down on the scanner’s glass. You then need to open the scanner’s software, go to File and select Acquire Scan (if it doesn’t automatically start the scanning process). If you select Acquire and Export, you will be asked to save your file. Save your file as a .jpg or .jpeg image. JPG stands for Joint Photographer’s Group, and is the preferred way to save photos. You will then get a preview of the picture on the right. You may select part of the picture to scan that part only and then click “Scan”, or click “Scan” to scan the full picture. To scan another picture, click on “Preview”, so as to “reset” the scanner.
Preferred Settings: I suggest you set your settings as follows:
- Image type: Color Photo.
- Resolution: 200 or 300 dpi (dots per inch). The larger this is, the larger the file size.

Now what?
- You can now make changes to your picture with Painting, you can add it to text in word processing, or in a web page design program, or just print it out. For this lesson, students will add clip art to the picture to make either a flyer or a greeting card.

- Check for understanding: Students will be asked questions:
- What is the difference between .jpg and .gif? (.jpg is for photos, and .gif is for cartoons.)
- What is a good resolution to scan pictures in? (200 or 300 dpi –dots per inch, but if you want to make a nice photo printout, make the resolution as high as you can).

3. Guided Practice
- Teacher reviews the steps to scan a picture.
- Activity: Have students scan their own picture and make changes to it with Painting.

4. Closure
- Students take quiz.

5. Independent Practice
- Homework: Scanning Pictures.


Source: My COMPUTeachER, The Computer Book for Everyone. Get your copy at www.PaulRallion.com