The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

January, 1943 Page 27 Experimental Research in Audio-Visual Education By DAVm GOODMAN TITLE: . AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MOTION PICTURES IN TEACHING GENERAL SCIENCE Investigator: W. Kenneth Baker For the degree of Master of Arts, completed 1940—Wit- tenberg College. First Experiment Objectives The specific aims were (1) to determine the value of the motion picture in helping the pupils to acquire factual in- formation and (2) to determine whether silent films or sound films are the more effective. Procedure In this experiment the technique used in presenting the motion pictures was the one the author believed to be most commonly employed by teachers using motion pictures as a teaching device. The films were simply shown without anything being done to prepare the pupils for the films. They were shown at a time when it seemed they would do the most good. While the films were being shown very little was added by the instructor in the way of oral com- ments. The value of showing the films to one group of students was compared to the value of an equal amount of time being spent by an equivalent group of students in working on workbook exercises and in reading reference material. Results The results obtained in this experiment seem to indicate that in some instances films are slightly more effective than a study period, while in other cases there is little or no difference. On the average, the sound films seemed to be slightly more effective than silent films. These results further indicate that educational motion pictures should occupy a place among the instructional devices used in teaching general science and that the particular film tech- nique used in presenting the films in this experiment was ineffective. Second Experiment Objectives The specific aims were (1) to determine the value of motion pictures in helping the pupils to acquire factual in- formation; (2) to determine the value of motion pictures in helping the pupils to understand scientific principles; (3) to determine the value of motion pictures in helping the pupils to make practical application of the facts and prin- ciples studied; (4) to determine the value of silent motion pictures as compared to sound motion pictures; and (5) to determine whether or not there is a progressive gain as the number of films used increased. Procedure A definite film technique was developed and used in this experiment. In every case the content of the motion pic- ture film was correlated with the subject matter studied. Anything studied, which was included in the film to be shown later, was carefully pointed out and the pupils were instructed to watch for this in the film. In this manner the instructor tried to use the film to interest, stimulate and motivate the pupils in their work. At the conclusion of the study the motion picture which had been correlated with the subject matter just completed was shown as a sum- mary. The pupils were required to write a summary paragraph on each film and to hand it in on the day follow- ing the showing of the film. The value of showing films to the one group of students in the manner just described was compared to the value of an equal amount of time HISTORICAL FEATURES and SHORTS in 16 mm. Sound COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO CATHERINE THE GREAT with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Elizabeth Bergner PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY YIII with Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Gertrude Law- rence, Robert Donat, Binnie Barnes. THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL vith Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL The following series of historical shorts have been pro- duced with a new technique using famous works of art including sculpture and landscape. English Monarchs HENRY VIII EDWARD VI MARY TUDOR ELIZABETH Famous Women of History One Reel Each JOAN OF ARC CLEOPATRA CLEOPATRA and ANTHONY BOADICEA DELILAH QUEEN OF SHEBA Send for Catalog of 2500 Enferfafnmenf and Edu- cafional Subleets avallablo for rontal and safe. 25 W. 4Sth St. Dept. E-1 ■J1.JI.I.IMB New York being spent by an equivalent group of students in an oral teacher-pupil summary. Results The results indicate that the motion pictures used in this experiment were more effective than the oral teacher-pupil summary in teaching factual information, in helping the pupil to understand the scientific principles studied and in helping the pupils to apply the facts and principles studied. The difference between the film group and the non-film group was not quite great enough to establish definitely the superiority of the film group as being the result of the educational motion pictures, but the statistical significance of the difference was great enough that such a conclusion seems highly probable. There was nothing in these results, however, which would indicate a superiority of silent films over sound films, or vice versa. The results gave no indica- tion that there was a progressive gain on the part of the pupils as the number of films they had seen increased. Conclusions From this study the conclusion seems justifiable that the technique employed in the second experiment is effective and that the indiscriminate showing of films in the class- room contributes little or nothing to the learning process.