The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 104 The Educational Screen ^riE. JjlExatuxE. in ^ l/iiuaL IJn±t%uc£ion A Monthly Digest UTILIZATION Visual Aids Quicken Learning —Ralph W. Whalen, teacher training department, Armored Force School, Fort Knox, Ky.— Industrial Arts and Vocational Education 32:8. January, 1943. Tlie principles followed in using visual aids for education . of men in service are summarized and their possibilities and criteria for selection enumerated. The types of aids used are: blackboard illustrations, made by teachers or students; models of the cutaway, sectional, enlarged or small-scale type on engines, guns, etc.; charts that are large enough for all to see. and which are mounted on rcjllers; bulletin boards: sand tables where terrain problems and the use of certain kinds of arms are demonstrated: exhibits of damaged tools and the like: filmstrips that tell how to do things; lantern slides; and motion pictures for basic training, mechanical, technical and tactual training. Motion pictures arc used only where they have proved an effective aid to learning. Visual aids are obtained as much as possible by resourcefulness on the part of instructors and students. Science Films as Demonstration —Paul F. Brandwein, Forest Hills High School, N.Y.C.—High Points. 24:69. December, 1942. The author chose five silent films for use in an experiment to determine the effectiveness of using films exactly as laboratory demonstrations. All subtitles were removed from the films and the teaching procedures were varied to parallel variations in laboratory demonstration techniques. In three years of experimentation, with 9 cla.sses that included 201 students in the experimental group and 132 in the control group, the author was able to draw some conclusions. Sound films that depend largely upon the spoken com- mentary are not practicable for this kind of application. The silent films chosen were found effective for presenting laboratory demonstrations, that is, they stimulated reflective thinking on the basis of observations independently made by the students. The films would prove most effective in the hands of a stimulating teacher. Such application of the motion picture—for demonstration purposes—suggests the need for 50 to 200 foot subjects that would be easily handled. The Motion Picture and the Teacher— edited by Hardy R. Finch, Head of English, Greenwich, (Conn.) High School, in cooperation with the Committee on Standards for Newspapers and Motion Pictures of the National Coun- cil of Teachers of English, Greenwich, Conn., 1942. 16 pp. IS cents. This pamphlet contains a series of discussions on the use of the motion picture in the classroom and in the community. In "Reading about the Movies," Eleanor D. Child shows how high school students may enjoy reading books dealing with motion pictures. Hardy R. Finch, in "Student Writing and the Movies," points out the ways that teachers may stimulate student composition work by using the movies as a center of interest. Francis Detscher and Marion T. Parker suggest ideas for photoplay clubs in "The Activities of the Movie Club." Lt. Godfrey Elliott discusses "Using Films in the English Classroom." Maribel Richardson tells how her students are "Developing Critical Attitudes by Motion Picture Study," while Donald A. Eld- ridge presents some pertinent material on "Motion Picture Study and the Community." Following Mr. Eldridge's article is a chart showing the relation of motion-picture study to the school and the community. The teacher experienced in using the motion picture in Conducted by ETTA SCHNEIDER the classroom will find some new ideas in The Motion Picture and the Teacher. The teacher just beginning to use motion pictures in her work will find the booklet e.xtremely helpful. Pan-American Movie Club —Cecilia M. Schmid, assistant principal of Shakespeare School— Chicago Schools Journal, Sept.-Dec. 1942. p. 34. During the club period one of the activities in this school was the showing of travel films on South America. The titles and sources of these are given in the article, most of which are industrial or advertising films. At the meetings Spanish children were invited to sing or dance and the club presented a Pan American Assembly at which songs and dances were performed in native costumes. MUSEUMS The Future of Education in Museums— Alfred Busselle, Jr., Supervisor of the Junior Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York— Education, 63:226 December, 1942. Never have men been so in need of a believable image, not only of their own cultural ancestry, but of that of other ;aces. We must believe emotionally as well as intellectually that a life different from our own may nevertheless be as good. Museums must realize their responsibility in promoting new acceptance—as distinguished from the tolerance which is the best we have been able to offer to date. The future of museums seems to lie in two related chan- nels: first, in sensitizing the individual, so to speak, to a vibrant exhilaration in the arts of peace, helping him to polish one after another of the facets of his inner life; second, in promoting the brotherhood of man through awareness of the achievements of the equality and integrity of men. Museum Education After the War —Charles H. Sawyer, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, \lass.—Education, 63:222 December, 1942 In the past ten years the art museums, through the impetus of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Fran- cisco Museum of Art and others, have brought their activities and programs to include not only the conventional fine arts mediums of oil painting and sculpture, but also music, the dance, photography, the motion picture, and branches of the commercial and industrial arts. In this sense, a real begin- ning has been made towards establishing the art museum in its community as a center for all its related art interests rather than a repository for the most exotic and expensive evidences of i)restige and wealth. The educational work of the art museum has also been in- fluenced during this period. Ten years ago the only edu- cational program was the guided tour and sometimes creative classes for children. Museum guidance has been continued and even improved by closer collaboration with the school program. Creative classes have spread to include young children, adolescents and adults. Children's museums have developed both as independent institutions and as depart- ments of the larger museums. Finally, many museums have expanded the educational implications of their work by the use of didactic or interpretive exhibitions which seek visual- ly as well as verbally to convey to the layman what they might see in an object of art. Pioneered by the Cincinnati Museum, ably seconded by many of the country's smaller and more progressive ones, these exhibitions have now be- come an accepted part of the program. For these developments, museums owe a great debt of gratitude to the great private foundations, and especially to the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, who have made possible many of the pioneer developments in museum educa- tion. The place of the art museum in the post-war period is already suggested in these developments of the last decade. (Continued on page 106)