International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

22 THE CINEMA IN TEACHING revolt from this process of learning. Laboratories equipped so that children could leap the bounds of the senses through the aid of instruments grew in numbers during the past few decades. It was observed that it is not possible to divide the element knowledge which comes from autonomous intuition from the knowledge depending on teaching. For example, the village or community as an entity is too large for the ordinary conception of the child in a limited environment. But a play miniature village brings concepts of life to children of five or six or seven, which, if they had to await the mastery of reading, they could not hope to attain before ten or eleven. The new intuitive means have aspects which necessitate a necessary methodological and programmatical revision of what was once considered as definite and final. Experiments carried out in this direction have shown clearly enough that the intuitive system, that is, the use of the sound film in this case, can bring the level of culture and instruction of a class of backward pupils almost to the level of classes where visual aids are not used and ordinary didactic programs are followed. In his report for the year ending June 1933, Dean Russell of Teachers' College points out the great significance of the broad diffusion among the people of knowledge of present day problems. He shows that this is essential to the maintenance of a social order dedicated to liberty and equality. The sound picture has much to promise the educator who is struggling with ways and means to diffuse knowledge with respect to the great social and economic problems. The same demand for a medium which will short-circuit the laborious process of building concepts from verbal descriptions operates in vocational guidance schools, where it is essential that boys and girls obtain a clear realization of the nature and opportunities offered in hundreds of fields, and choose those which warrant intensive investigation. In this area, the devices which have been thus far developed have fallen short of the ideal they serve because of the lack of teachers capable to present the necessary materials adequately. The sound picture would seem to contribute to the solution of both of these difficulties. One more point may be mentioned here. This is the professional training of teachers. The possibilities of bringing typical classroom situations from all over the world for study and analysis is one which has already been given some attention by teacher-training institutions. There is the question of the explanation of phenomena and complex processes. Ordinary instructional techniques are lacking in their adaptability to show sound and motion coordinated in their natural form. For example, the writer is rare who can describe the action of molecules in such a way that the conception is carried over to the ordinary person. Physical laboratories have struggled with this problem, and teachers have struggled with it by using blackboard illustrations and wavings of the arms. None of these devices compares in its effectiveness with animated cartoons. The pictures of this kind recently developed by the physical science division of the University of Chicago show how the moving picture fills a long felt need, and brings within the reach of the many what was previously only for the few. No one can see the natural growth of a plant or follow astronomical phenomena with the naked eye, but the slow motion, animated cartoon or photograph can reveal these things. The same thing is true in the matter of natural sounds. In order to reproduce them exactly, it would be necessary to possess a large collection of musical instruments which would be costly and cumbersome. The sound film can reproduce them all with scientific fidelity. The possibility of cartography in bringing the infinite within the ken of the individual has been demonstrated by the group of astronomical pictures which have been developed. The above points at which the new communication process potentially impinges upon the educational system by no means exhausts the possibilities. According to Mr Mort, the sound films has the widest opportunities for development. Since however, scholastic methodology is based on the old oral and written systems and curricula, a radical revision of the same is essential if the true effect of sound pictures in to be obtained.