ICT meets Art

Students can apply their ICT skills to help people search the nation's paintings

Karen Hosack Janes,
Schools Education Consultant, PCF

The National Curriculum requires pupils to become fluent in their use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Your Paintings Tagger offers an excellent opportunity for pupils to collaborate in a real-life nationwide digital communications project. It enables them to develop skills such as organising data and using technology to connect with audiences beyond the classroom. Being part of the project gives pupils an understanding of how databases use keywords to classify information and allows them to explore paintings and share their observations with people all over the world.

Your Paintings Tagger
https://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/

By following simple instructions on the Tagger website pupils are prompted to type in words which they think describe what they can see in each randomly selected painting. The activity can be undertaken as a whole class on an interactive whiteboard, or on individual computers by small groups or individual students.

Tagging develops literacy skills by promoting discussion about what is happening in paintings, what objects or people can be seen, or where the places depicted might be. Words can be chosen from dropdown lists, with definitions, or several descriptive words can be entered.

Teachers might want to set their class or whole school a challenge to see how many paintings can be tagged before the Christmas holidays! Friends and family may also want to join in at home because interacting with images in this way is good fun and opens up new areas of shared interest.You can start Tagging paintings on Your Painting Tagger https://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/