Finding images on the internet for classroom use has been a problem problem for many educators, for reasons such as copyright privileges, inappropriateness, etc.
While there are a number of paid solutions for finding images such as Nettrekker or Discovery Streaming, there are a number of free alternatives that work nicely as well.
However, keep in mind that most of the sites listed below do not have built-in filters for images. These image search engines should be used either by educators (adults assisting students) or go in hand in hand with a school district filtering solution and Acceptable Use Policy.
- Pics4Learning - Very popular site to find free, safe-to-use images for teachers and students.
- Cyclo.ps - Search engine that searches the most popular free image engines around and provides one-stop shopping.
- School Clip Art - Great site for free school clip art.
- Ookaboo - Creative commons (free) site for finding great images for class work.
- Picsearch - Excellent image search engine, if used with a district's filtering solution.
- Veezzle - Wonderful free stock photo search engine.
- Google Swirl - Innovative way to search for images and see their relationships with each other (use with Google Safe Search enabled).
- Free Photo Bank - Easy way to find creative common images.
- Open Clip Art - Great way to find free clip art.
- Find Icons - Nice site for free icons.
David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com
