The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 148 The Educational Screen ^riE J^itE^xatuiz in ^ l/iiuaL iJn±ixuation A Monthly Digest MUSEUMS Children See and Do in This Museum-School —Grace Fisher Ramsey, Curator of School Relations, American Museum of Natural History— School Executive, 31 : 46 January, 1943 A new platoon program offers a full day's activities in a single visit. Teachers may select any of a choice of themes around which the activities are organized. Exhibits on the subject being studied (primitive peoples, natural resources, etc.) may be examined in the museum halls. Then pupils are given time for manipulative materials. Films are shown on the topic of the day. After lunch a special visit is made to the Hayden Planetarium, followed by other trips to pertinent exhibits. Classes studying topics not included in the museum pro- spectus may have specially planned programs. Traveling exhibits are provided by a few of the municipal museums when visits to the museum are impracticable. Other museum activities include a 16mm educational film library for national distribution; guided tours for service men; courses on geography of the war, special exhibits relating to the war; etc. "Museumettes" are being built to teach men in the army natural science, such as poisonous plants and insects, camouflage and story of flight. FLAT PICTURES Picture Collection in Hill School Library —Janies V. Mof- fatt, assistant librarian, Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.— Library Jottrnal, 68:6S January IS, 1943. A description of the techniques and procedures in build- ing a picture collection. Equipment includes steel files, wooden processing cabinet, a card catalog case, a letter press, type- writer, trimming board with an 18" blade. Supplies include cardboard, Fotoflat, labels, etc. The processing cabinet is 4' high, with 24 drawers that serve as a /repository for over- size pictures, as well as storage place for pictures in the pro- cess of being mounted. Sheets of 22"x28" boards are cut in two to provide a standard mount, ll"xl4". Neutral gray and brown is also mixed with dark green and other colors de- pending on the picture. Adhesive for the pictures presented quite a problem. Foto- flat applied with a special tool, has been found to stand up best over a period of time. The labels are printed on forms which give the school's name and indicate various types of pictures. They are pasted at the lower left-hand corner below the illustration. The article describes methods of displaying pictures on grooved molding, subject headings used, the criteria and methods of selection, and other practical suggestions based on experience. MAPS New U. S.-Centered World Map for Air-Minded Americans —N. L. Engelhardt, Jr.— Visual Nezvs, published by the N.J. Visual Education Assn.—January, 1943. The Centrifugal World Map for .'Kir-Minded .Americans has two characteristics which help to allay the confusion and bewilderment with which many people are faced in following the course of this global war. First, the U.S. is located at the center of the map. Second, straight lines drawn from the U. S. to all places in the world represent the shortest routes to those points. Important places are indicated by a dot, and no outlines are indicated, other than the small one for the U.S. at the center. The map has been divided into six parts or sextants' the Asiatic Sextant, the European-.'Vfrican Sextant; the Pan-American Sextant, the Pacific Ocean Sextant, the Pacific Islands Sextant and the East Indies Sextant. By three arcs, we note that the U.S. is 30 hours or less away from any point in the world by air. Conducted by ETTA SCHNEIDER .\n illustration of the map is printed in the article. Copies are available for class use at a nominal charge from Mar- guerite Kirk, Newark Department of Library and Visual Aids. Maps in War Time— Walter W. Ristow, Chief of the Map Division, New York Public Library—Education, 63: 273 January, 1943 A statement on the great need for geographical information that can only be found in maps during the war crisis. The New York Public Library has ample evidence of the public interest in maps and has collected a wide variety of timely maps to meet this interest. PHOTOPLAY APPRECIATION Improving Pupils' Experiences in Moving Pictures — A. L. Morgan, principal, Dowling Junior High School. Beaumont, TexSLS~Cteari>i(i House. 17:231 December. 1942 This is an abstract of a field study carried on for the Ed. D. degree at Colorado State College of Education, Greeley, Colorado. An examination of the motion picture experiences of the Dowling Junior High School pupils showed: l)That children attended about l.S times per week, an average of 234 hours per year, or 39 six-hour school days; 2) that 90% of these students get their parents' consent; 3) that they seldom disregard their parents' wishes: 4) that 73% of the parents say that murder, gangster and sex pictures are bad for boys and girls; 5) that they usually attend alone or with friends of their own age; 6) that they seldom go with their parents; 7) that there is no appreciable effect on their health and growth; 8) that day-dreaming is negligible in frequency: 9) that the films they like most are airplane, cowboy, comedy, spooky and love stories; 10) after seeing a film they usually want to talk about it or read a story similar to it, or do something brave and daring, or go out and have a good time; 11) that after seeing gangster films they think that such persons ought to be punished, or they feel sorry for such persons, or they want to be policemen; or they think nothing at all; 12) only 50% of them think that movies cause them to do good; and 13) most pupils rated a list of 15 personalities in a manner similar to that of most other persons. The author concludes that: the attitudes of Dowling boys and girls are definitely affected by what they see at the movies; they get little guidance in their movie going; parents are not actively concerned with the kinds of movies their children see, and the practice of allowing boj's and girls to go to the movies alone or with friends of their own age is a doubtful one. In the light of these findings, he recommends that some ,'tudy be made as to what teachers and parents can do. The school program should teach discrimination in movie-going. Pupils should be encouraged to go out and speak on movies at com- munity meetings. Cooperation with local theatre managers in showing good films should be sought. Each P.T..\. should make a study and act on movie-going in the community, and parents are also committed to providing good substitutes for movies. High School Students are Picture Conscious —W. C. Cher- rington, Idaho Falls— Iciahn Journal of Eciucatioi:. 14:81 December, 1942 A survey of the tastes of high school students, numbering 800 in a town of 16,000, revealed that they prefer picture magazines, comics, summary magazines, radio and movie and sports magazines to books and other forms of recreational reading. Their interest in motion pictures was consistently higher than in newspapers, magazines or libraries. The writer concludes that the educational program should make use of the picture-mindedness of students, using this interest to work toward a greater interest in reading. (Concluded on page 150)