The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

January, 1942 Page l\ A Radio in the Schoolroom? THE radio, the movies, the automobile! Are these the very banes of teachers' existences? When Johnny is so tired that he can scarcely sit up be- cause the automobile has made it possible for him to be a part of an entertainment fifty miles away, then truly the automobile does harass the teacher. If the class slumps into a lethargic state every other day because the movie manager brings a new show to town every other night, then indeed the motion pictures fret the teacher. And the radio! No matter what topic is to be discussed, someone has heard a program about some phase of the work so that just the edge of the presentation is taken off and the class becomes worldly wise. But what of the other means of gaining information? Are there no library books in schools today? Are textbooks in disrepute? Can teachers not teach effec- tively any longer? Can children not imagine what a region or event might have been like without having a visual image plus sound effects to imprint it upon his mind? Yes. all of the best of the former methods of teach- ing still exist. Children are still taught carefully and encouraged to read. Textbooks and library books are constantly becoming more enticing; their pictures are examples of sheer beauty, their contents are more vital to the interests of children, and the physical aspects of the books are far better. Teachers themselves are mostly products of at least four years of college train- ing, during which time special emphasis is given to building backgrounds for well-rounded personalities. What then makes it necessary for teachers and pupils to go beyond the four walls of the schoolroom in order to gain concepts of present and past events? You would not ride into town in a horse and buggy if a train, bus, or car made the same trip. Why then should teachers employ horse and buggy technicjues in their teaching? No good teacher will supplant her teaching with the movie machine, the school bus, the radio, or any other extraneous device. In fact, no teacher who is truly interested in the welfare of her pupils will ever be content with substitutes. And every teacher will find that the use of these sensory aids makes teaching more rather than less complicated. Every teacher who has tried to supplement her teach- ing with visual aids has found that such lessons require additional preparation, additional skill in the manipu- lation of the device, and additional assistance from outside sources in order to make the devices available to the class. In spite of all the extra preparation involved, how- ever, the alert and interested teacher knows that such lessons are of value to her class, that such materials are preparation for the present as well as for the future, and that children react favorably to the use of those implements of learning which are common to the home and the community. Far from supplanting teachers and their work, the broadcasts of the National Broadcasting Company and Emphasizing the need for careful planning in order to derive the fullest benefits from school use of radio. ELIZABETH STADTLANDER State Teachers College, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania the Columbia Broadcasting Company are designed to supplement and vitalize their work. They bring into the classroom the living world in the form of important na- tional and world events, of fine dramatic and musical talent, of living stories from the literature of the past. They are planned to broaden the student's horizon and inspire him to increased reading and greater interest in his work. But like reading or writing, some training must be given. It has been observed by teachers that children can close their ears to extraneous noises and speaking, while they carry on with their work. Is this the result of the radio in the home? Do children listen half- heartedly to programs and promptly forget all that has been heard? Do children simply close their minds to the radio when they have other things to do or to think about? If the sensory impression made by the radio is weak due to the common use of the instrument in the home, the first duty of the teacher in planning the use of the radio in the school is to improve the sensory attention. With the advent of the radio in the school and with this problem in mind, the children of the sixth grade of the Laboratory School of the State Teachers Col- lege at Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, decided to tackle an experiment with their hearing abilities. With the help of the teacher, the children decided to weigh their various class procedures against the radio. The vari- ous procedures which had been used were reading, reading and discussing. Against these two methods they chose to weigh hearing. They had been hearing the Columbia Broadcasting Company's morning pro- grams. They had been studying Latin America. For two mornings out of the week these two problems dove-tailed. How much better were the presentations, how much more important to the child. They all liked the radio programs, most of them liked to read, and all of them liked to talk. To put the problem to an actual test, the teacher gave a reading lesson on one phase of Latin American life followed by a short factual test; another lesson on the Americas involved reading and discussion culmi- nated by a short factual test; a radio program of his- torical events of South America was completed when the short factual test was given. The children offered to do their best in order to test the various procedures. As a result of this experiment, the children dis- covered that reading and discussion were superior to listening. The self-activity necessary to participate in a group discussion convinced the children that active learning is superior to passive listening. On the other hand, the children discovered that listening was su- perior to reading. They explained this by the fact that the action as described in a radio portrayal of an