The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

270 The Educational Screen Q. IIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIMillllllllinillllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIinMIIIIIIIII Itlllllllllllll ■llllllllllllllllllll iliiitiiiiiiiiiinMiiiiiHiiiniiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM SCHOOL DEPARTMENT i Conduaed by Dr. F. Dean McClusky I Assistant Director, Scarborough School, Scarborough-on-Hudson, N. Y. T*|l«lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllltllltllllllllllllltlllllllJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII»llllll>llllllllllillllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllltllllllllllltlllltllllllltlllllllllllltllllttllllllltllltlllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlll»l| "Teaching Aids For The Asking." PROFESSOR Homer J. Smith of the University of Minnesota has prepared a 60-page booklet entitled Teaching Aids for the Asking,* which should be in the hands of all lower grade teachers. It contains (1) a selected, classified and annotated list of informational booklets, oflfered free or at small cost by manufacturing and sales organizations and (2) over five hundred items serviceable to teachers of industrial subjects, general science and geography. The list was prepared from the returns of a request sent to more than seven hundred firms which were "asked to submit for examination euch booklets, job sheets, wall charts, etc., as they might have prepared for distribution as educational advertising. It was suggested that only such publications be sent as have educational merit and would be mailed to teachers upon request "All materials received", says Professor Smith, "were carefully examined in the light of educational objectives. About onethird was discarded and what finds place here has been judged worthy of school use". . . . He also adds, "the educational influence of such supplementary materials will depend upon the ways in which they are made available. They should not be retained as teachers' references, but should be used to stimulate such reading by students as will inculcate hab *The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 50c. its of individual progress after the school experience. The writer will be pleased to learn of other similar publications and of techniques for using such material as may be now at hand or secured by requests based on this list." The subjects covered in the booklets are : Trees and Woods ; General Woodwork and Carpen try ; Wood Finishing and Interior Decoration ; Structural Materials; Drawing; Plan-Reading and Estimating; Plumbing, Heating, and Ventilation ; Brickwork, Masonry, and Concrete; Electricity; Sheet Metal; Metals and Metal Working; Abrasives and Grinding; Lubrication; Automobile Work and Printing. Four New Short Subjects On Nature Study UFA has announced the release of 26 one-reel short subjects dealing with the unusual and beautiful in nature. We have had the good fortune to view four of the reels, all of which have strong educational values. One film is entitled "Feeding the Angels". In it the manner in which various water folk obtain their food is fascinatingly shown. Among the creatures which appear in the picture are hermit crabs, fishes, aeol • i d a e , sea-butterflys, common slugs and pteropodae or wing feet. The title is derived from the fact that the wing feet when screened look like little angels swimming through the water. Another film bears the caption, "Fishes in Love". Here the process of bringing the young into existence is shown and the different ways in which the tiny eggs are cared for by the parent fishes is interestingly recorded. In one case the eggs are released to float up into a nest and there remain until hatched. Another fish deposits its eggs on a rock. Another, a "mouth breeder", holds the eggs in her mouth where they incubate two weeks before hatching. The film also shows how a parent fish gathers minnows by the mouthful and carries them under a sheltering rock when danger threatens. We have seen cats carry kittens in their mouths but have never before seen fish care for their young in the same manner. The reel closes with a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Girarcimus Guppy and of the arrival of a little Guppy. This fish differs from others in that minnows are not hatched from eggs which have first been deposited in the water. The mother gives birth to well developed young ones. The photography in "Feeding the Angels" and "Pishes in Love" is exceptionally good. The pictures are clear and the action excellent. When the titles say something is going to happen, /'/ happens. The subtitles are a bit theatrical. A third reel, "Love's Witchcraft," can be likened to "Fishes in Love" However, in this picture instead