The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

November, 1940 Page 383 ^liE jLits.%atu%E in ^Viiuai lJn±tzuaiion A Monthly Digest Conducted by Etta Schneider Techniques of Utilization History Number, Education Magazine. 61 : September. 1940. Daniel C. Knowlton, special editor. This special issue of the magazine gives ways and means of making current history alive and real. G. T. Hankin describes the work of the British Coun- cil of the Hi.storical Association in pro- moting the production and use of history films and other visual aids. Irene F. Cypher, of the educational staff at the Museum of Natural History, gives help- ful guidance in the use of maps for fol- lowing current events. ("The Living Map," p. 14). Emil Lengyel. the Hungar- ian writer, describes the value of visits to historic sites as a Hnk between the present and the past (p. 18). In his article "Using the Movies in the Teaching of History and the Social Studies" John T. Greenan of East Orange, N. J. summarizes once again the historical film dramas which can ef- fectively be used by teachers of Amer- ican history as well as .some of the 16mm. versions of feature pictures. Other aids reconmiended for vitalizing history are museum exhibits ("It's a Small World," by Dwight Franklin, p. 30) and art prints ("A New \'isual Aid: Illustrative Sets available from Boston Museum of Fine Arts," bv .Anne Holii- day Webl), p. 35) An interesting technique for enriching current events is the Town Hall meet- ing of the Air type of auditorium pro gram, described by a New York City teacher (Meyer Terkel, p. 38). Simple Visual Aids —Godfrey Elliott. Oakvale, West Va.—/fV.f/ I'irgiiiir School Journal, 69:14 September, 1940 The many ways in which schools can inaugurate an effective program using concrete sensory aids at httle or no ex- pense other than effort. The use of com- munity resources, school museum col lections, picture files, stereographs are some of the aids. Movies in High School History Teach- ing — Ilanon Moon, Willis, Texas — Texas Outlook, 24:39 September, 1940 The value of using Hollywood film; that portray episodes in .American his- tory. Specific reference is made to the patriotic short subjects made by Warner Brothers in technicolor. They are avail- able to theatres free for showing to stu- dents. Titles in this series include, "De- claration of Independence," "Romance of Louisiana," "Sons of Liberty," "Man Without a Country," "Patrick Henry." "Lincoln in the White House" and "Tlie Bill of Rights." Visual Aids to Learning— .S'tAoo/ Ex- ecutive —September, 1940 The illustrations are a valuable sup- plement to the written material contained in the articles. Contributors to the special issue include: D. Arthur Bricker of Cin- cinnati, F. Marshall Worrell of Engle- wood, N. J., D. Ross Pugmire of Teach- ers College, Columbia University, Geor- gina Lannin of Hamtramck, Michigan and A. T. Browne, Superintendent of Acadia Parish schools, Crowley, La. The September issue of School Ex- ecutive is worth examining. Visual Aids in Education: Excerpts from the Third Annual Conference — University of Oklahoma, Extension Division. July 9 and 10, 1940 Talks included "The Importance of Using Visual .Aids as Curriculum Ma- terials" by J. E. Hansen, "Museum Ma- terials for Teaching," the description of the state-university sponsored WPA Museum Project, and the use of the school journey in education — a round- table discussion. Other activities at this conference, not reported directly in this bulletin, are demonstrations and illustrat- ed talks by teachers in Oklahoma. The conference was again under the direction of R. Boyd Gunning. Research Experiment to Determine the Most Ef- fective Method of Teaching Current History— Charles G. Eichel, Brooklyn, N. Y. (Ph.D. dissertation, N. Y. U.) Journal of Experimental Education, 9:37-40. September, 1940 The sound film method of teaching current history in the elementary schools was compared with such traditional meth- ods as reading of newspaper articles by the teacher, reading of newspaper articles brought to class by pupils, reading of periodicals, and others. The 6B students in 6 elementary schools furnished the data. The schools had a similar socio-economic background. The classes were heterogeneously organized on the basis of intelligence quotients and similarity of socio-economic backgrounds. \ variation of the paired experimental control technique was used. .\ zero-point class which received no instruction at all was also included, together with experi- mental and control groups. The experi- mental class used the film; the control class used a special news leaflet prepared for the experiment and containing the same facts as were seen in the film. The zero-point group was exposed to news- papers, photo reporters and magazines but received no instruction at all. The teachers were chosen because of their interest in current historv and vis- ual instruction. The same teacher taught both experimental and control classes. There were two lessons on each topic, one to introduce the new topic and the other for review. The film was shown twice in each case; the Photo Reporter was read and reread. (Films used were March of Time) New-type tests were created. Questions in the tests were selected by the teachers as the most worthwhile and because answers to them could be found in the film and in the Photo Reporter. They were checked for reliability. A pretest was given before each new lesson and a follow-up test immediately after the re- view lesson. Ten days later a retention test was given to each of the three types of classes. Ten weeks later, a test of 100 questions, composed of ten questions from each test of each of the ten units, was given. This test was also given after a year's interlude to 144 pupils. Results showed: 1. The control group was superior to the experimental group in the majority of the individual units of the experiment. 2. The control group was superior to the zero-point group in each of the units. 3. The control group was superior to the experimental group in the combined units of the experiment. 4. The control group was greatly su- perior to the zero-point group in the combined units of the experiment. 5. The experimental (film) group was greatly superior to the zero-point group in each unit of the experiment. 6. The experimental group was greatly superior to the zero-point group in the combined units of the experiment. The investigator also found the control group superior immediately after the fol- low-up test by .27 mean point; but the experimental group was superior to the control group 10 days later; the ex- perimental group was superior to the con- trol group 10 weeks after the experi- ment ; the experimental group was su- perior to the control group one year after the experiment by 6.46 mean point. Conclusions: The sound-film procedure, as described in this study, was more ef- fective than the traditional textbook- study method of the printed news media, since more of the information gained through the film was retained by the pu- pils so instructed. Consumer Education Presentation Techniques: Writing, Ra- dio and Motion Pictures —Edgar Dale and I. Keith Tyler, leaders. Proceed- ings, Second National Conference, In- stitute for Consumer Education, Ste- phens College, Columbia, Missouri. Bulletin No. 2, 1940. p. 148-52 Basic material on consumer educa-