The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 214 The Educational Screen ^riE J^iiEXaiuxE. in ^l/iiuaL Lln^ixuation A Monthly Digest Conducted by ETTA SCHNEIDER TRENDS New Techniques in Mass Education — Orson Welles — Adult Education Journal. 2:93 April, 1943 A radio address, delivered at the American Association for Adult Kducation regional conference, March 6. 1943. Here are some sentences from the address: "Nowadays education itself is better educated . . . The radio is realizing its potency as a teacher—and the movies are so good nothing can stop them, not even the movie-makers, who have certainly tried ... I offer you a sober, terrifying thought— all educators, whether they like it or not are in the amusement business, and all movie-makers and radio broadcasters . . . are educators." PHONOGRAPH RECORDS A Comparison of Phonographic Recordings with Printed Material in Terms of Knowledge Gained Through Their Use in a Teaching Unit— I'hillip J. Rulon, et al— Harvard liducalional Rcvic'u\ 13:W-76; 163-175, January and March, 1943 These two articles describe in detail two of four investiga- tions on the effectiveness of phonograph records in education. Phonograph Records as an Aid to Learning in Rural Ele- mentary Schools: A Handbook for Teachers and Super- visors—Effie G. Batliurst—State T^epartnient of Educa- tion, Albany, N. Y. 1943. 171p. The study described in this bulletin was made possible under a grant from the Committee on Scientific Aids to learning. Here, briefly, are the stages of the experiment that are de- scribed in an interesting fashion in the report: First, the medium of the phonograph record was studied with a view to using it for enriching the curriculum of rural schools in New York State. Such questions as the following were studied and answered: what subjects should be treated? what content should be included? how could the material be presented most effectively, through dramatization, lecture, dialog or round table discussion? After having arrived at certain decisions. Dr. Batliurst sought the assistance of outstanding persons to help in the actual pro- duction : radio script writers, authors of children's books, teachers, librarians and others. Great care was taken to main- tain a high production quality throughout, in the choice of mechanical recording etiuipment, performers and the like. The result of this phase of the experiment was 38 records, built around three areas: the environment, English and regional studies. The 10 records for studying a nature trail were a dramatization of the experiences of one class of rural students and their teacher in building and caring for a woods adjoining the school; then there are six records to illustrating ways of making better use of nature: and finally 2 records on "Do You Know Birds?" For the series on "Stories and Poems We Like," authors of children's stories were interviewed, or good story-tellers were called upon and for two records, a class of fifth grade pupils of Horace Mann Scliool was used to illustrate choral speaking. The dramatizations in the series, "How Country Cliildren Live" attempted to convey geographical and scientific under- standings to show why children living in the various regions of the United States enjoyed different experiences. The second large phase of the experiment involved an evalu- ation of these 38 records with the children for whom they had been made, namely, the rural elementary students of New York State. The volume describes in much detail some of the ways in which children and teachers used the records. There are verbatim reports of lessons; answers to specific questions by teachers, and descriptions of units in which the records were used. This study provides a new, vitalized approach to the phono- graph record which has as an advantage over radio programs the fact tliat it can be used over and over again, and the added advantage in the general availability of phonograph equipment in schools. We should greatly benefit if we had similar studies for other media of instruction. It will be recalled that Dr. Bathurst made a worthwhile contribution to the field of motion picture evaluation in a bulletin for the U. S. Office of Education on "Conservation Films for Elementary Schools"—Bulletin 1941, No. 4. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Let Us Mix Palestine and Hollywood —Mary C. White, Upper Montclair. N. J.—/"('/ Journal oj Religious Educa- tion. March, 1943. p. 10 It is suggested that religious educators go to the movies more often to see what is being shown and to know what young people are seeing; that they make a study by questionnaire of the kinds of films the boys and girls like best, when they go, with whom, and so on; plan to improve the taste for movies by knowing what good films are coming, and then make this in- formation available to the teachers. One teacher was discussing with an eighth grade class what the Old Testament offers life today. 'Who saw Dumbo yester- day?' she asked. This brought enthusiastic replies from the group. The teacher pointed out how Dumbo had made the best of his long ears, much as Moses did of his speech defect. She then referred them to passages in the Old Testament that de- scribed the situation. .Among the films that would lend themselves to discussion among religious classes are, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," "Citizen Kane," ".Ml That Money Could Buy" and so on. FILM SHOWINGS The Cracked Voice of Propaganda— Documentary News Ecttcr. March, 1943. Published by the Film Centre Ltd., 34 Soho Square, London Wl. During the last two years the British Ministry of Information has built up what is perhaps the largest and best organized non- theatrical distribution scheme in the world. During 1942 the films reached an audience of 12 million, and in 1943 an esti- mated 18 million will see them. Over half of the audience in 1942 went to shows given by mobile projection units: 137 units give 1,300 shows a week. The article makes a plea for better showmanship in presenting these important war films, especially with respect to the acous- tics of the meeting hall. A survey by sound engineers is strong- ly recommended to set standards for sound recording and pro- jection. FLAT PICTURES The Picture Collection—revised Sth edition The H. W. Wilson Company. 950 University Ave., New York. 1943. $1.25. This is the first edition to be issued since 1930. During that time many changes have taken place in the administration and scope of the Newark, N. J. Public Library's Picture Collection of which this is a description, and these changes are mirrored in this new edition. Materials and equipment, sources for pictures, methods of processing and storage, classifying and charging are all de- scribed in turn. There is a valuable Directory of Publishers (Concluded on page 216)