The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 66 The Educational Screen ^liE J^itE^xatuxE in ^l/i±iiaL £fn±t%iiaiion A Monthly Digest Conducted by ETTA SCHNEIDER ADMINISTRATION How One County School System Uses Audio-Visual Aids — Leah Phillips, Elementary Supervisor, Wicomico Co,, Salis- bury. Md, School Manaijcmcnt, 12:92 December, 1942. The county system of education here described comprises 6.342 students in 6 white high schools, 17 elementary schools; one negro high school and 11 elementary schools. There is a county-wide administration of audio-visual aids and that within eacii school. The County Superintendent is in direct charge of the program, with the supervisor acting as assistant director. The principals of the various schools act as members of the audio-visual committee. County interest in visual education began when supervisors and several teachers took courses in audio-visual education. Four years ago a survey was made of available equipment and materials. The teachers then evaluated the status ' of their materials with a view to the future. The community showed its eagerness to cooperate, by loaning exhibits and permitting school excursions to their homes or business es- tablishments. The teachers studied in detail the techniques of using field trips for education. In-service teacher training was begun. A professional library was started by half the cost being paid by the Board of Education. Source materials were mimeographed and distributed to the teachers. The super- visors responded to calls from teachers to observe lessons taught and to offer suggestions and encouragement. As the teachers' background broadened, the need for new equipment was evident. The Board of Education set aside funds for the purchase of some equipment, the PTA contributing more. A county projector was bought for the smaller schools who could not afford individual projectors. There are now: a central radio system in the large high school, individual radio sets throughout the county, radio-victrolas in high school music departments, 3 micro-projectors, 3 lantern slide pro- jectors, 11 combination projectors, and 11 sound film pro- jectors. New buildings are planned for projection. Audio-visual materials owned by the Board of Education include films, slides and some phonograph records. They are housed at the central office and are reserved upon request for any teacher. As new materials are acquired, teachers receive mimeographed announcements. To finance the purchase of materials, the Board pays half the cost up to $5.00 per teacher for each school year. All new material is previewed by representatives of every year of elementary and secondary schools. Within each school older students and the janitors help to care for storage and maintenance of equipment. Films for Defense— United States Office of Civilian De- fense, Washington, D C—Sept. 1942. OCD Publication No. 3620. 16 pp. This bulletin was prepared for civilian defense leaders who are inevitably going to use motion pictures to ac- celerate the training program within their community. It urges fullest cooperation between civilian defense groups and existing film distributors. For those places where no such agency exists, the Office of Civilian Defense has pre- pared this brochure. It assumes that the Film Bureau has had little or no experience in arranging showings and goes into detail on preparation and precautions for best results. After some description of the type of administrative staff and equipment that are desirable, there are two recom- mendations for organizing a film service: one method is for the Office of Civilian Defense to act as a clearing house for bookings of recommended films; the other is for the Film Bureau to own and distribute films and to help with projec- tion service. In any case, a Film Bureau should be set up in the local Office of Civilian Defense to supervise directly or indirectly those activities that involve the use of films: gathering information, reviewing new subjects, raising funds, surveying projector availability, etc. A helpful section is that entitled, "Arranging the Show- ing." On these pages are described the exact procedures for setting up a projector in a meeting-room that has not been built for projection. In the Appendix are such valu- able materials as the basic skills needed for projection; minimum equipment; care of films; care of the projector and mention of the possibilities of filmstrips an<l Z"yil" slides. SLIDES Color Slides As an Aid to Classroom Teaching— Hans van Weeren-Griek, Curator of Education, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts— Virginia Journal of Education, 36:97, Novem- ber, 1942 Pictures in elementary geography textbooks lack authen- ticity either because they were taken as long as 50 years and are no longer pertinent; or because they were inserted for their picturesqueness of out-dated costumes and festivals than for the actuality of the life in the country under dis- cussion. One method of inculcating an intelligent understanding in children of people in other places would be through a study of native art, as confirmed by John Dewey when he wrote, "Works of art are the only media of complete and un- hindered communication between man and man that can occur in a world full of gulfs and walls that limit com- munity of experience." Photographs are no adequate source for understanding a country because they give information but lack under.standing. True such photographers as Joris Ivens and Margaret Bourke- White have done splendid jobs in interpretation with their documental photography but they cannot make a Dutchman real to us in the manner of a Frans Hal or Rembrandt. When an artist looks at his own country, seeing it with the eyes and the spirit of his fellow countryman, we are likely to get a true picture, based upon familiarity and acute observation by a necessarily sensitive onlooker, and one who is trained to express this in the simplest and most direct terms; even truer than one might at first suspect, because upon the nature of a country, its climate, its valleys or its mountains depend the nature and consequently the thought and philosophy of its people, which in turn, decide the consequent creative necessity of that people. With this in mind, the author prepared colored slides from original works of art of people in all countries and all periods. Contemporary, as well as creative works of art from previous periods, augmented by maps and good photo- graphic material combined with some text should create a fairly well-rounded picture. The Virginia State Board of Education, in cooperation with the Richmond Supervisor of Art, Miss Sara Joyner and oth- ers, has devised the following plan: The Virginia Museum of F'ine Arts will circulate sets of slides and lectures as here described, accompanied by a projector and boxed in a case for safe and easy shipment. Bibliographies and other ma- terial will accompany these sets. The material will require many years for completion. Illustrative of the units, is the one on Egypt now in preparation. A description of the con- tent of such a unit is given in the article. Follow Through With 2 x 2—Frank Wheat, Chairman of Biology, George Washington High School, New York; Chairman of Film Steering Committee— Teaching Biologist 12:46 December, 1942 Teacher-made kodaslides include a series of photomicro- graphs on the structure of cells; on variation among dogs; (Continued on page (:8)