Copyright Free Resources

National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library contains photographs of marine life. The content of this website would best be suited for High School and Jr. High School science classes. One area of interest on the website contains images of the human impact on marine life which could be useful for an Environmental Science class educating students on the effects of humans on our environment. The collection found on this website contains still images and some videos. The website lists that permission is granted to "any and all users (public domain)" for "unlimited uses." The images also include descriptions of the photos to help the user better understand the purpose of the photo.

This website contains clipart of maps and flags. This resource could be particularly useful in a Social Studies classroom for just about any grade Middle School through High School. I imagine the resources being used by teachers for instruction or students to use to create presentations where they need illustrations about various countries. One stipulation listed on the website is that permission must be given in order to use the country maps. Other than that, most sections list that the user is able to use the images free of charge without any formal permission. They do ask that if you choose to use their images that give a link back to their website. I thought it was very useful that the Flag Images included commentary on the country to which the flag belonged and a reason for the flag being as it is.

Contents of this site: This site contains images of influenza, natural disasters, environmental health, bioterrorism, electron micro-graphic imagery, everyday activities, health behaviors, public health in action. The websites recommend that the site is good for those studying in the primary, secondary, or graduate levels. However, there is a "WARNING: This library includes subject matter that may be unsuitable for children. Viewing discretion is advised." This site would be ideal for science, health, social studies, language arts (research and informational writing) with regard to any of the topics listed above. Copyright and Protection: The site states with regard to copyright that most of the pictures are copyright free, but you need to double check. Below is a question answered from the websites FAQ that will help clarify the copyright regulations of the images in this website. "What regulations govern the use of images in the PHIL? Answer: Images are either "Public Domain" (free use) or "Copyright Protected" (restricted, obtain permission before use) Most of the images in the collection are in the public domain and are thus free of any copyright restrictions. If you look directly beneath the image you will see a fair use statement that tells you if the image is public domain or copyright protected. Permission is not required for public domain images, but we do ask that you credit the original institution and contributor, when known, whenever the image is used in any publicly distributed media. If the image is copyright protected, you will have to contact the content provider to obtain usage permission. PHIL does not have the authority to grant usage for any copyrighted images in the library. If you have difficulty contacting a content provider, we may be able to help, but we cannot act on their behalf."

NASA's photojournal is a copy-right friendly website that allows students and teachers to view images of each planet and the universe, as well as spacecraft and technology. Also included in this site are animations of happenings in space. This website would be ideal for science instruction on space and could be used for all grades. Not only are the images appealing, the information tagged with each image is very informative.

I will definitely use this website, as well as my students, to create presentations for our space unit.

Offers digital photos of cars organized by make and model. The car pictures are of reasonably good quality. This could potentially be suitable for high school or college automotive classes, economics classes, or even environmental science classes. The resources could be used in Digital stories, Prezi, and PowerPoints. They could be imbedded in other virtual documents, or Educational websites, provided the licensing agreement was followed. The photos are royalty-free and there are no fees. Potential Problems and solutions: The problems lie not with the photo repositories themselves, but rather lie in the educator's own ability to think creatively, and to work with raw digital materials. I can think of no better solution than for an educator to spend time examining how the available resources can be used to encourage a student to think about the subject matter. A teacher can plan for an elaborate lesson but discover there is a dearth of photo content; therefore, since time and money are not unlimited, the teacher would be wise to consider this before planning a lesson. Further, a teacher would be wise to search for as many resources as possible and add them to a list, as we have done for this assignment. Quality: B All viewed photos are of good quality, though they tend to vary in resolution. Using such images may require a bit of creativity.

Boasting thousands of digital clip art images, Openclipart does cater to teachers and other working professionals. The collections are sorted for optimum utility. The best part is that the images are all copyright-free and in the public domain, which means that there are no restrictions. There are no perceived limits on usage; resources should be suitable for K-12 and beyond, and useful for Digital stories, Prezis, PowerPoint, imbedding in other virtual documents, and educational websites. Potential Solutions to Perceived Problems: The problems lie not with the photo repositories themselves, but rather lie in the educator's own ability to think creatively, and to work with raw digital materials. I can think of no better solution than for an educator to spend time examining how the available resources can be used to encourage a student to think about the subject matter. A teacher can plan for an elaborate lesson but discover there is a dearth of photo content; therefore, since time and money are not unlimited, the teacher would be wise to consider this before planning a lesson. Further, a teacher would be wise to search for as many resources as possible and add them to a list, as we have done for this assignment. Quality: B If you are looking for good clip art for no money, and with no restrictions, this collection seems much better than anything you will find packaged with a Microsoft product.

With more than 200 million free stock photos, and a very simple and effective search engine, Foter's greatest asset is the sheer bulk of its searchable photo database. All photos are free, but the license may vary from photo to photo, depending on the artist. Fortunately, the license for each individual photo is clearly marked. Also photos are downloadable in a variety of sizes. It has near-limitless potential as a resource for educators. The photos should be suitable for K-12 and beyond, and are suitable for Digital stories, Prezis, PowerPoint, Imbedding in other virtual documents, and Educational websites. Potential problems and Solutions: The problems lie not with the photo repositories themselves, but rather lie in the educator's own ability to think creatively, and to work with raw digital materials. I can think of no better solution than for an educator to spend time examining how the available resources can be used to encourage a student to think about the subject matter. A teacher can plan for an elaborate lesson but discover there is a dearth of photo content; therefore, since time and money are not unlimited, the teacher would be wise to consider this before planning a lesson. Further, a teacher would be wise to search for as many resources as possible and add them to a list, as we have done for this assignment. Quality: A All viewed photos are have been produced by skilled photographers, and all are available in high resolution. Content quality may vary slightly due to the high number of contributors.

They have a huge resource of case studies that can be used in science classrooms of all ages

Great source for science simulations. I use these as inquiry introductory activities where students must use the simulation to discover basic principles of new ideas.

This is software that is used for simulations, and can even be programmed for multiple computers to connect to each other and interact within the simulation.

Edupics offers free downloadable coloring pages, pictures, and photographs.  The website images are clearly classified and easy to navigate.  There are word search and crossword puzzle image downloads, which would benefit primary and middle grades. There is even a collection of school appropriate animated videos. The color online tools available appear to target the primary age group, however, there is a variety of content appropriate for making any subject interactive. The only limitation I see to this site, in comparison to others is the limited content available.

Free coloring pages, crafts, drawings and photographs. Children can use these images to learn about many different subjects. Pictures for educational use. This site is loaded with pictures, ways to create coloring pages, already created coloring pages, puzzle maker, games, and crafting ideas. This site is geared to the k-5 education setting. You can do a multitude of activities with this site and the resources available. The pictures can be used for any activity. There is no fee listed, and you do have to create a login.

This website is loaded with opportunities for teachers. It is a very well organized, searchable website that contains pictures that may be colored, photos, black and white printables, crafts. This site is Great for all grade levels pre-K through high school. For social studies teachers, it has religious categories, history, famous people... Science- animals, energy, environment and more... Language arts- emotions, fairy tales, film and television...

Photo Pin is a search engine that allows you to search by tags. Its photos are taken from Flickr using API which searches for creative commons photos. When it opens up, there are check boxes to search for specific license types. Even typing in benign words like sink rendered many photos to choose from and most of the pictures were artistically taken. The images come in various sizes and the HTML code is right there when you open the photo. Be careful not to click on the images above the line. These are sponsored images and will ask for a fee. Some images contained scantily clothed and provocative individuals when a few choice words were entered into the search engine. Because of this, this site should be reserved for high school students only.

The Library of Congress contains a host of collections that can be explored. One Diigo posting referenced the American Memory collection, there are quite a few more. Just a small sample of the prints and photograph collection include Architecture, Design & Engineering Drawings, Ansel Adams Photographs of Japanese-American Interment in Manzanar, and Civil War Glass Negatives. The site is a bit overwhelming and teachers may need to narrow the focus for the students. An elementary and some middle school students would require specific collections presented to them if they were found useful for these age brackets. For instance, a search for trains pulls up information on how the screwdriver was used to make small toy trains. It would require the younger student to know how to narrow the search of the 4000+ pages on trains. This website would be a best fit for history. There are uses for language arts teachers from a historical perspective as well such as propaganda

Find historical maps, geographical maps, cartographic maps, maps of battles, cities, town... This is a very good resource for a social studies teacher. It contains over 4.5 million items. This website may also be good for science teachers who are studying conservation or the travels of an explorer like Darwin. History teachers who study battles during war can find American Revolution, Civil War, WWII battle and campaign maps. Any lesson that requires a map, this is the place to go to first.

Thousands of copyright free and copyright friendly images and photos for teachers and students. This site contains different categories of pictures. The rights belong to the owners of the pictures. Students and teachers are free to use the pictures for projects, teaching, posters, multimedia and educational purpose. This site also contains ideas, trading posts, activities and other resources for teachers and students. Latina

Pcs4 Learning is designed for education and is "copyright friendly" and searchable. It contains five popular categories, animals, food, education, space, and countries. Click on collections, however, and plethora of other categories appear. Click on the lesson plans link and teachers will find ideas for using pictures in lesson plans. A small sample of the lessons that appear includes symmetry, alliteration and ancient cultures. The pictures on this website have been donated by educators, students, and amateur photographers. Images here are suitable for grades k-12, any subject.

This is a royalty-free website. There are three levels of purchase, gold ($59.96), platinum ($99.95) and pro ($199.95). A school may share a license for this price. This site contains clip art, power point backgrounds, animations, sound effects, sound/music and video elements. Images and GIFs come in various sizes. Many can be downloaded with or without a background, so it doesn't have that square box around it. Spice up your blog or bring your power points to life with this service. This site is good for any subject, any age or any grade level.

Images on this site are under creative commons and are free to use on web sites and other projects. There are many, many types of animals on this site. There are probably animals listed that the children have not even thought of before. The animals are alphabetically listed, with many detailed animals under the broad list of animals. An example is parakeets. Then are many types of parakeets from which the children can choose. They also have animals broken down into types of primates, rodents, mammals etc. I don't really see a difficulty with this site. It seems pretty straight forward and easy to use.

Pictures of Animals -- Animal Photos! This website contains pictures of animals listed in alphabetical order. Some of the pictures may lack that professional quality, but the list is long. It is a great website for science, social studies, language arts and elementary school projects. This website is listed under the Creative Commons as free to use on websites and other projects. One especially nice feature which makes it great for younger students to easily give credit is that it provides the crediting information for you, simply copy and paste the html code or the name of the source.

The United States Department of Agriculture image gallery provides public domain, high-quality images of animals, crops, food, field research, plants, and more. These images are generic in nature; they are more like stock photo images. This gallery is great for teaching young children about the different occupations in agriculture, the different animals on found on the farm, or the different type of crops we grow. Due to the simplicity of the photos, they would not be as effective with student past 5th grade. Whenever you go to download an image, there is a form asking how you plan to use it. This form is optional; you can download the image without using it.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library provides a collection of images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and videos. Unless marked for private use, most of the collection is in the public domain. Instead of providing artifacts entirely based on the variety of fish and wildlife in the U.S., the website mainly focuses on artifacts on the services provided by the department. The artifacts that are based on the fish and wildlife would make excellent items to include in science classes of all ages. The artifacts based on the services provided would be better suited for high school social studies classes or any type of community involvement subject. The collection is huge, with a lot of information that is too "specialized" (documents outlining conservation plans of specific complexes), users of the site should use the search function over the browse function.

The Johnson Space Center digital image collection provides over 9,000 press release images from space programs ranging from Mercury to the STS-79 Shuttle mission. Unlike the NASA image gallery, the images provided are more historical in value. Unless stated otherwise, NASA does not "license" these images, but they do provide a list of guidelines of their use. Since these images have historical value, they may be best used in high school social studies, science, and history courses. One main issue with the images is their size. Each image is 640x480 pixels, making them well-suited for web, but not ideal for print.