Window+Decals

**Bonnie McNair**
People used to place stickers on the bumpers of their automobiles. Think "My deliquent student can beat up your honor student." These were hard to remove and were often inherited from a previous owner.

Then came magnetic signs and signs which attached with suction cups - from ribbons of every color promoting causes to the diamond shaped "Baby on Board" signs.

Now people proudly proclaim their allegiance to organizations or promote personal views regarding the world using window decals on their rear windows. These more easily removed mini-billboards reflect the feelings and viewpoints of the occupants of the vehicles.

I performed a photo safari in the parking lot of my local mall to obtain the digital photographic examples needed for my Learning project. I used GIMP to crop and scale all the resulting photographs. I then used the images to create a PowerPoint presentation categorizing my photographs into groups.

This project could be used at a public library or high school with teenagers sent on a "scavenger hunt" in the parking lot of the appropriate building. The goal is to take pictures of people's decals and intrepret what the decals represent. Also math skills could be involved as ratios and percentages (i.e., what percentage of cars in row 4 had no decals, how many trucks had decals as compared to cars). Another challenge would be to award bonus points if the photographer can also capture the reflection of the decal on the vehicle or take the shot with their silhouette appearing in the photograh.

Either click on the image below to download the PowerPoint presentation or the link under the photograph. I paid $10 for that six inch square decal which proudly announces that my freshman son plays football so I am going to use it as much as possible. His jersey number, 78, is the same number my husband wore in high school. The down side is that library patrons now know which vehicle I drive.