The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 6 The Educational Screen wood or metal; a file with ball bearing or roller transmission will insure greater ease in pulling out the drawers. These files usually contain four drawers and will carry from five thousand to ten thousand pictures according to the thickness of the mount; the movable compressor contained in each drawer helps to hold the pictures in an upright position. Small collections of pictures can be filed in an inexpensive small vertical filing case which contains no compressor. It will hold a limited number of pictures, but several of these cases can be arranged on shelves by subjects, making refer- ence easy. Having decided on the size, either letter size or the legal or cap file size, (i. e. 10 inches by 15 inch- es) one can proceed with the mounting. The mounts should be of heavy, tough paper of neutral shade; thick cardboard is more durable but fills the file too rapidly. If a dry mounting press can be secured, much time and eiifort can be saved. This instrument is an electrically heated press in which the pictures and the mount are inserted with a sheet of gum tissue between. Under the combined pressure and heat the tissue melts and acts as an adhesive. The more common method of mounting is the paste mounting. Measure the position desired for the picture before mounting; allow a space along the long side of the mount for the title and accession number of the picture. The paste is thinned and applied to the mount with a brush. A rolling pin is used for pressure on the mount side as the paste is less likely to smear. A more satisfactory and lasting piece of work is accomplished by first cover- ing cardboard mount with paper of appropriate shade before mounting the picture. A passepartout of linen tape about % of an inch wide makes a se- cure finish for the picture. Filing In order to facilitate finding a picture, a system of index guides is indispensable. The guide cards separate the contents of the file according to sub- jects. For the legal size filing case the guide cards should be 10" x 15" exclusive of the half inch in which the subject headings are designated. The guides should be third cut; i. e. the tabs should be equal to a third of the length of the guide so that there are left tabs, center tabs, and right tabs. The names of the subject headings are then put on the tabs in alphabetical order, using the three positions in rotation. For a school the subjects could well follow the curriculum divisions rather than adopt the Dewey Decimal System or the like. For ex- ample : Social Studies — Art — Nature — Litera- ture — Music, etc. Under these large divisions could come any number of subject headings. These should be concrete, exclusive and specific. For ex- ample, such a subject as Geography of North Amer- ica would be too general; it would be better to say: North America—Physiography North America—Plant Life North America—Races North America—Animal Life, etc. A folder containing a copy of subject headings with their accession numbers kept in the front of the file is convenient for reference. Using Pictures in the Classroom Social Studies. We think of the use of pictures particularly in connection with the social studies, geography, history and civics, but we find them valuable also in teaching literature, music, nature study and above all, art. In teaching the social studies the picture is almost coequal in importance with the reading material. Through an attractive pictorial representation the young child first gets his knowledge of places and things not in his immediate environ- ment. Who does not remember the joyful hours spent as a child pouring over a picture book that fired the imagination! The writer recalls particularly a copy of the old "Orbis Pictus" full of purely factual material and yet fascinating because of its variety and its true depiction of places and peoples. Such ex- periences are second only to the contact with the places or things themselves. The experience be- comes more vivid if accompanied by the explanation of an understanding adult, either the parent or the H«ar«l fuut, ami und*t-lun(i wcr* wslcd M, Ike upp« b«ch or u nur to ttw lu|h-Hal oi pouible. Food con- ■iotod of beef, pork. reoHlcor or horro moot, Foortod on t^t* brforr the roofing 6ro. bowlo of curdo, ryo l i roi rf . di of chooic. ToHcU ond houn* wrrr pourd bo- nd woi torvrd. Tho roonu wen Iiikted by con- .mjn« |jtnc lorchci- Gueot* were ontertouMd by with borpo ond by Ike redtab of the icoldi. Courtesy of Photographic History Service Plate No. 11 Vitalizing "The Vikings" teacher. She must be thoroughly familiar with the picture or pictures presented. Opportunity must be given to the children to study the pictures and to de- rive from them all that is possible. They are then put aside and a discussion brings out all that has been learned from the observation of pictures. The pictures are referred to from time to time if there are differences of opinion. Comparison of descrip- tive material of some place or objects and the picture