The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

May, 19} i Page 133 AMONG THE MAGAZINES AND BOOKS CONDUCTED BY MARION F. LANPHIER Journal of Chemical Education (February) "An Experiment in Visual Education," by J. O. Frank, State Teachers College, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, pre- sents some conclusions as to the kinds of slides which are most effective as teaching aids. Because of the variety of results and conclusions reported from studies of the effectiveness of the use of slides in teaching chemistry, the writer con- ducted his own investigation to determine their teaching value. He found that such conflicting findings were partially due to the diflferences in the values of the slides themselves, and in the method of presentation. Several sets of slides were espe- cially prepared on the basis of his conclusions, the use of which rendered a 14% gain in the accomplish- ment of his classes. Another article of interest in this issue tells how to make "Cellophane Roll Films for Slide Lan- terns." The authors are Ross Bonar, Floyd Bonar, and Earl C. H. Davies, the latter professor of phy- sical chemistry at West Virginia University. No extra lens system or alteration of the projection lantern whatever is required for the projection of the cellophane roll film. The slide carrier is merely withdrawn and the roll carrier inserted. Sierra Educational News (March) In his article, "Use ot Film in Education," Robert S. Johnson of the Department of Visual Instruction, University of California, Berkeley, points out that the auditor- ium and classroom require their peculiar type of film and method of presentation. He gives the following directions for the correct use of films in the classroom: select those which will assist in solving a particular problem; use them either to introduce or summarize a problem; time their showing accurately; integrate film and verbal instruction; employ devices to aid students to re- tain the knowledge gained. He also states certain general rules which apply to auditorium films. Child Welfare (January) "Better Movies," by Catherine Cooke Oilman, Chairman of the Committee on Motion Pictures, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, is a "stimulating explanation of the new Congress plan with regard to motion pictures." The old and futile methods of cooperation with the in- dustry itself are discussed clearly and without preju- dice. The plan of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers is then outlined with full directions for getting into prompt communication with source ma- terial and executive help. .\ copy of this issue should be in every teacher's and parent's hands. Journal of Education (.April 17) "\'isual Aids at Little Cost," by (jeorge \V. Wright, Principal, Far Hills, New Jersey, should prove helpful and stim- ulating to both rural and city schools which cannot afford mechanical visual equipment, as it suggests how to make effective use of available aids, such as .school journeys and field trips, pictures in textbooks, magazines and newsjiapers, cartoons, blackboards, charts, maps, sandtables, plays and pageantry. The writer recommends the purchase of the five mechanical types of visual equipment—stereographs, stereopticon slides and lantern, film slides, still films, and a motion picture machine—as quickly as circum- stances permit, selecting that type which best serves their needs. Nebraska Educational Journal (March) "Why the Geography Picture?" asks Superintendent Floyd A. Cropper, Tilden, Nebraska, and proceeds to answer the question. "Pictures and geography have become synonymous. Approximately twenty per cent of the space of the modern elementary text- book in geography is devoted to pictures." He states that the results of tests involving the use of flat pictures indicate a gain of 15% in knowledge of subject matter. The writer himself has conducted a study in which an evaluation was made of the in- creased ability of the class to interpret geography textbook pictures after picture instruction. International Review of Educational Cinematog- raphy (March) Under a new typographical set-up this estimable publication offers its usual contents of valuable report and discussion in the film field. "Lan- guage-Teaching and the Talking Film," "Internation- alism and the Film." and "The Use of the Cinema in Occupational Instruction" are among the articles presented. Parents' Magazine (March) "Better Week-End Movies," by Lillian McKim White, offers one of the many efforts of communities to protect their children at the Saturday and Sunday movie. The writer feels that the plan "will work under conditions as they are without antagonizing theatre owners." This is often the case, but frequently it is apt to be otherwise. The Living Age (January) "The German Cinema," by Louis Cheronnet, translated from Le Crapouillot, a Paris Literary Monthly, offers a S3'mpathetic ap- praisal of the film in Germany as a "symbolic vision that reveals the evolution of a whole people." One may not agree with the writer's condemnation and I)raise, both granted with equal enthusiasm, but one does recognize an astute analysis of a subject.