International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

THE CINEMA AND CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 45 equilibrium between pictures and text must be maintained. Care must be taken to avoid tiring the children when using the cinema in school. The sittings should not be too long, nor repeated too frequently. If the children were to remain in the darkened hall too long, their nervous system would be tired, and the film would end by no longer holding their attention. We are of the opinion that two hours weekly would be just about right for this purpose. It could be divided into half-hour projections every other day, if necessary, but there is a risk of the film becoming mechanical when broken up in this way, and we think it is much the best arrangement to condense all the matter that is to be used on the screen into one projection weekly. It is useless to discuss the pros and cons of film versus lantern slide. Each system has its advantages, and the ideal thing would be to use both alternately and in combination, according to need. Lengths of slow film can also be interpolated in certain cases, or the projection can be stopped to give the pupils time to assimilate and appreciate the scene or object presented. We must mention here a danger to be guarded against in historical films. Only too frequently the pupil, seeing a historical film, says to himself that the actors performing the part are only men of our time masquerading as men of the times gone by. Such a thought arouses the critical sense that is so highly developed in children. This must be avoided by informing the children beforehand that the only object of the projection is to help them to understand text books and classical writers, so that they will realize they are not going to see a simple entertainment, but an instructive film. The prestige of all teaching methods must always be maintained. It is quite possible that more time may be taken over a course by adding the cinema to the theoretical teaching, but this difficulty can easily be overcome. In fact, there would be no real waste of time except in the case of very impressionable children, who might react abnormally to unrealistic films that have not a close connection with the theoretical part of the lesson. The film must therefore be suited not only to the age, sex and social environment of the pupil, but also to his special temperament. Normal children may benefit by films intended for abnormal subjects, relatively, but the opposite certainly cannot be said. It is undoubtedly the case that too much cinema may distract the pupils from some of the theoretical courses, and the master must therefore use his judgment and the film in due measure. The cinema is, without question, a valuable aid in the educational field, from both the intellectual and moral point of view ; but, used without discernment, the best method in the world will fail in its aim. Moralists, teachers and neurologists must therefore combine their efforts to reach perfection in this field. Visibility and Illu The eyes must not be mination. trJe(l unduly Dr fa tigued. Only too many of our children suffer from eye trouble as a result of the continuous strain of reading badly printed books, books placed on desks that are too high or too low or are ill-lighted. The same trouble may exist where the cinema is used in schools. The children should not be placed too close to the screen ; the picture should be exactly focussed on the latter, and it should not flicker. The light should not be too glaring. The pupil and crystalline lens of the eye must not be strained to adapt themselves to the image passing before them, or the eye may become so fatigued as to give origin to some form of short sight. The retina nust not be allowed to suffer irritation through excessive luminosity. Tension of the external muscles of the eye may cause painful reactions and even headache. The screen must not be placed so high that the children have to throw back their heads in order to see, thus straining the muscles of the neck, nor so low as to strain them in the other direction. All these faults may pass unobserved for a