International projectionist (Jan 1959-Dec 1960)

Audio-Visual Education: A New Era Begins The editor of IP was privileged to hear at the opening get-together luncheon of the convention of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers an address by Maurice B. Mitchell, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc. Appended is the first of two articles which, severely edited, are so informative, challenging and inspiring as to provide not only a "lift" for A-V personnel but excellent ammunition for those of limited vision who, controlling budgets, fail to grasp the full significance of audio-visual programs as a magnificent teaching tool. TEACHERS and school officials of our country remind us that they lack vital resources. My associates at Massachusetts Institute of Technology tell me that in the 28,000 high schools of the United States today there are probably no more than 11,000 adequately prepared physics teachers, and no more than 3,000 of these are first-rate. We have stepped across the threshold of a technological revolution. There is no road back. Every businessman knows that to preserve and advance the technology he must find trained manpower. His only resources are our schools, colleges and universities. The Communication Revolution Another revolution of our times is the communications revolution which will change the classroom of tomorrow. The teacher faces an almost insurmountable problem in communicating to different levels of perception. In films giving all students experiences in common, the teacher has found for the first time a device for establishing this precious uniform background. Films make unique contributions to learning. (A chikl in Cleveland can sit down in the home ot a Chinese child, etc. ) They take man out of his environment, back in time and into time compressed and expanded, into the most immense or minute spaces and inside man or matter, and to observe energy. The First Complete Course Our primary concept in the development of audio-visual techniques was to help teachers overcome old limitations. In recent months we have gone far beyond that. Working with the National Academy of Sciences in response to the shortage of physics teachers, we completed and delivered to the schools an introductory course in physics for senior high school or freshman college students. It is the first complete course in the American curriculum ever recorded entirely on sound motion picture film. The NAS told us that the best qualified teacher in the field of physics teaching was Harvey White of the Universtiy of California. Under merciless white-hot lights and the remorseless stares of motion-picture and TV cameras, he taught the classic course in introductory physics for 162 consecutive days. With its 1% million feet, it may be the biggest single sound motion-picture project ever undertaken. Closed-circuit TV brought the course to experimental groups of students. Dr. White's course has been used in 400 American schools during the last school year — often in classrooms with no teachers. At the end of the first semester, all 1587 students took an achievement test in physics. Results: students taught by the faculty scored 66% and those taught by the film alone scored 72.2%. In Cummings, Georgia, an eighth Genarco Slide-Changers Set New High Standards Expert in the professional slide-projector and spotlight field, Genarco, Inc., has lately adapted the professional touch for the school and~ industrial audio-visual fields. Applying the same technique requisite for the "pro" field, ranging from giant 60-feet high outdoor expositions requiring precise optical systems and a never-failing source of light, Genarco has now applied this knowhow to the reduced, and therefore more exacting, images required for the more intimate approach which exists on the campus. For example: Mounting Electric Slide Changers on Existing Slide Projectors: Slide projectors for 3V4 x 4-inch slides are used in large quantities in museums, colleges, universities, TV studios and, generally speaking, whenever large and very bright images must be projected. When 2 x 2-inch slides are used, or 35-mm slides, the amount of light that the slide can transmit without overheating is limited (generally) to a 750-watt incandescent lamp. When very large images must be pro jected, the magnification required when a 2 x 2-inch slide is used is such that the quality of the still picture is not as good as that obtainable from the image of a 314 x 4-inch transparency. Until now most of the 3a/4 x 4-inch slide projectors were equipped with manually-operated slide changers. Genarco's Electric Slide Changer, Model 6800, with the 70-slide magazine enables the operator to change the slides by push-button. For special effects, one could even operate two or three slide projectors, fade the images projected by one unit into the image of another, and get all kinds of striking screen results unobtainable with a manual slide changer. Every user of 314 x 4-inch slide projectors should investigate the Genarco Electric Slide Changer. Professional operators in the A-V field have always recognized and profited by the utter reliability' of Genarco units. ELECTRIC MOTOR Detail of the Genarco electric slide-changer, which accommodates — with remote, push-button c o n t r o I — 70 slides of either 314 or 4-inch diameter. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST FEBRUARY 1959