FYI800p

FYI: Web Resources:

Image Processing
ImageJ window showing histogram and Analyze tools.
Figure 1: Image J Histogram and Calculation Menu.

At the recent National Imaging Technology in Education Conference (Rochester, NY), middle- and high-school students demonstrated individual and class projects highlighting imaging technology in the classroom: comparing lichen growth over time, measuring crystal growth, and measuring volcanoes on Mars and Venus to mention a few. One class learns biology by writing its own online lab manual using digital images that the students take! At the same conference, teachers explained how they use digital imaging and processing in their classrooms to map the moon, to study the preservation of farm lands, to introduce weather and oceanography images into class projects (a CD of this conference will be available through the CIPE site listed below).

Image Processing can be used to enhance images as well as to extract information from images. For classroom teachers, most of the software and images are free. Image analysis in K-12 classrooms can be used to promote inquiry, science, art, and mathematics goals

If you would like to take the plunge and use image processing in your classroom this year, web resources are listed below. [These URLs were "live" in August, 2000. This page and links will be available for a short time at http://www.canby.com/hemphill/FYIIP2000.htm .]

Imaging Programs:
Scion Image Window showing measuring tool activated.

Figure 2. Scion Image Measuring Tool.

http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/download.html . NIH Image is the star of imaging software. It is a Mac public domain image processing and analysis developed at the Research Services Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The author is Wayne Rasband.
http://www.scioncorp.com . Scion Corporation produces a PC format imaging program, a la NIH Image. The program is free, although you must register. The Beta 4.02 version is the least buggy version.
http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/docs/index.html . Wayne Rasband has introduced Image J, based on his NIH Image program, with more capabilities. It is available for both Mac and PC. A help section is available at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/docs/concepts.html . Its strongest advantage is in opening JPG images.
http://www.cis.rit.edu/info/free.shtml : CIS Lab, brought to us by Dr. Jon Arney and the folks at Rochester Institute of Technology, is a free viewing program which tries (it is still in beta testing) to incorporate the desirable features of several different programs. It is available for Windows as a zipped file. It was written by a student, Dan Hentshel.
http://www.vrl.com/index.html : ImageMagick is available free for manipulating images to be uploaded to the web.
http://www.geologynet.com/programs/html/imageproc.htm : A page of program resources from Geology Net, all freeware programs.
http://documents.cfar.umd.edu/imageproc/improc.html : a list of image programs and resources for UNIX….

Lessons and Imaging Help: CISLab Image showing Calculations.

Figure 3: CISLab Calculation Menu

http://www.eVisual.org . The Center for Imaging Processing is a great resource for teachers. They develop instructional materials that use image technology, especially in biology, math, and physics. They have (for sale) lesson-resource kits for Anatomy & Physiology, Environmental Science, and for Biotechnology. However, they provide free resource links and sample lessons.
http://www.eVisual.org/Resources/Resources.html : A great resource page with image sources (as well as remote sensing and GIS resources).
http://www.eVisual.org/Software/SoftIPLessons.html : This page links to sample lessons developed by CIPE imagers for their packages: Animal Hands (a lesson using imaging to compare hands, flippers, wings); Brain’s Blood Supply (teaching students the use of imaging in analyzing blood vessel size and blood flow); Eruption Plumes of Io (measuring ejection of Io plume material); Gel Electrophoresis; Going in Circles (diameter and circumference measurements); On Tour in America (using NIH Image or Scion measuring tool).
http://www.ncc.com/cdroms/ipt/ipt_sites.html : An image processing resource list from the Network Cybernetics Corporation with many links to digital imaging URLs. It also has links to ED imaging and to image restoration. Geared more to the imaging professional than the K-12 teacher.
http://psidev.persci.com/~castleman/lin_com1.html : Space-Variant Image Enhancement, a page by Kenneth Castleman is one technique used to pull out details in forensic image processing. An advanced technique. He describes another mathematical technique for enhancing images at http://psidev.persci.com/~castleman/haar1.html .

School/Student Projects:

http://www.online.emich.edu/~mcharle/WebPage.html : Mike Charles project page at Easter Michigan University. His students, mostly teachers, share NIHImage projects they have developed. Also included are Dr. Charles' NIHImage projects for mapping the Titanic and measuring the speed of a dunk ball. **NEW**
http://mps.k12.vt.us/ipt/material.htm : Vermont Image Processing Teachers page provides links to teacher-developed materials for use with NIH Image, mostly in biology. **NEW**
http://www.stfrancis.k12.mn.us/valfair/nihexamples.html : Three Amusement Park Physics images from Darrell Rahn at St. Francis High School, MN. His students used NIH Image to make measurements.
http://science.exeter.edu/jekstrom/default.html : Jim Ekstrom’s page with imaging activities, especially for biology. He has several activities developed for grades 5-8.
http://www.sidwell.edu/sidwell.resources/bio/VirtualLB /: Biology I students at the Sidwell Friends School author and test a virtual biology lab book. The lab book includes 15 labs that are posted in their "online labbook" including DNA extraction, a muscle lab, and a digestion lab.
http://www.teleport.com/~ack/scipres.htm : A page by two Oregon Episcopal School students highlighting the use of NIH Image and Scion Image in the mapping of Mars and Venus (this may not be a permanent site).

Images:

Once you have a freeware or shareware program to use for imaging, where do you find images on which to use it? The preeminent use of NIHImage has been in medical imaging: microscopic images and, especially, Magnetic Resonance images (MRI). It is now used to extract data from images in many other disciplines, such as earth and planetary science.

http://idt.net/~dclunie/medical-image-faq/html/part7.html . A listing of medical sources of free data, especially MRI images, that biology teachers could use with NIH Image, Scion Image or other imaging programs.
http://invsee.asu.edu/invsee/invsee.htm : The Interactive Nano-Visualization project is a tremendous resource for teachers. Dr. B.L. Ramakrishna of the Center for Solid State Science at Arizona State University. Through an NSF grant, has made Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) available live over the web to students and teachers for experiments and imaging! An image bank is available as well as 17 learning modules. The modules, which start with the basics of the SPM, range from "The Music of Spheres" to "Why does a Light Bulb Burn Out?" to "The World of Liquid Crystals." They include images of yeast, iridescence, biominerals, biological and engineered materials, blood cells…. A resource well worth a look.
http://conscope.bio.temple.edu/: Temple University Biology confocal microscopy images can be downloaded (but cannot be viewed online).
http://chem.csustan.edu/confocal/Images/index.htm : California State University at Stanislaus makes available the images taken with their research microscope at this page. Images available for download include human, horse, and grape chromosomes, along with an image of a rat cerebellum.
http://ncmir.ucsd.edu/biology.html : The biology project pages of the national Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California, San Diego demonstrate the use of digital imaging in biological research.
http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/Curriculum.Support/Life.Science/Life.Science.Images / Images from NASA projects, including an online gallery of Neurolab images, images from a microgravity project, as well as archived Life Science images.
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/ : A NASA site for searching photos of earth taken since 1968. This site includes a clickable map of the earth, leading to astronaut photography of different regions (which themselves are further "clickable" by latitude and longitude.
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/utilities/imagemap.exe/sseop/clickmap/map09.map?295,348 : This page from the above NASA site lists the images of the Northwest from Seattle to Olympia to Portland, including images of the Cascades, Mount St. Helen, Mt. Hood, Mt. Ranier, the coast, the Columbia River….
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/iams/html/search.htm : Nasa’s JSC digital image collection, with thumbnail images, are available for download.
http://www.clpccd.cc.ca.us/lpc/courses/ward/astrsoft.htm : Las Positas College (CA) offers an astronomy course in which NIH Image or Scion Image is used to view images, such as the "moons of Jupiter," the "rotation of Mercury," and the "expansion of the Universe." The page is dated 1998.
http://home.eznet.net/~ekinsman/physics.htm : The images on this web page are, I believe, for sale. However, I include the page here for the potential use of K-12 digital imaging projects. E. M. Kinsman has images of ice freezing in polarized light, of light interference on a thin film of soap, and examples of time-lapse photography that could be use in a classroom, in addition to image capture using a microscope.
http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/Research/researchareas/imagevision/images_ftp/index.html Standard, non-science, images used in digital imaging, including the famous "Lena" image.

Rosa Hemphill
August 2000
Oregon Episcopal School
Portland, Ore.