The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 248 The Educational Screen The Sixlh Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Forum on Audio-Visual Teaching Aids Summarized by ABRAM W. VANDERMEER. Ph.D. The University of Chicago ITHE contributions of audio-visual teaching mate- rials in a world at war was the theme of the Sixth . Annual meeting of the Midwestern Forum on Audio-Visual Teaching Aids held July 23rd and 24th at the University of Chicago. In addition to the displays of some twenty-five dealers in audio-visual materials and equipment, three general sessions were held. Each session dealt with contributions of audio-visual aids to one of the three phases of the war effort: civilian mo- rale, industrial education, and military training. Depart- ing somewhat from the pattern established in previous meetings, there were no demonstrations of actual tech- niques for using films, slides, and the like. Instead, an attempt was made to show something of the wide range of new uses of audio-visual aids, and to indicate some of the important new developments in the field. The Use of Motion Pictures in Developing an Understanding of the War Mr. L. C. Larson of Indiana University presided over the Friday evening meeting, which began by showings of sound motion pictures from the Office of the Co- ordinator of Inter-American Aflfairs, the National Film Board of Canada, the British Information Service, and the U. S. Office of War Information. Mr. William McHenry of the Educational Film and Recordings Institute described the film program of the Office of the Cordinator of Inter-American Afifairs. The two-fold nature of the Coordinator's program was outlined clearly as Mr. McHenry told how films are being used to give information about the United States of North America to the peoples of Latin America as well as to inform citizens of this country concerning their neighbors south of the border. Mr. McHenry said that in producing these films, great emphasis is placed upon making them entertaining. Only the barest facts are included in each subject because of the magnitude and complexity of Latin America. Militarily, the films are helping to protect our weaker southern flank against the Axis by forming a body of opinion favorable to the Allied Cause. At the same time, by developing a feeling of friendliness and by encouraging cooperation among the nations of the Western Hemisphere, films from the Coordinator's Office are helping to make possible a better post-war world. Thomas Hodge of the British Information Service described the use of films in developing an understand- ing of the war in Britain. "It is our philosophy," said Mr. Hodge, "that the people will cooperate with ad- ministration and support the war eflfort in direct pro- portion to their understanding of the war. Films of the British Information Service have therefore been produced to develop understandings basic to the prose- cution of the war. These films contain no exhortation. They do not say that this or that should or should not be done. Rather, each film attempts to describe a prob- lem and to show how people are getting together in group action to do something about the problem. In some cases, typical, successful solutions to problems growing out of the war are shown. In other cases, co- operative efforts of citizen groups in attempting to find solutions themselves form the central theme of the film." Mr. Hodge's points were admirably demonstrated in the film, Via Persia. The program of the official motion picture agency of Canada, the National Film Board, was described at some length by Mr. Wesley Greene of that organization. The successful centralization of resources for producing, distributing, and utilizing visual materials that has been accomplished in Canada stands in marked contrast to the relatively high degree of decentralization which char- acterizes the activities of the United States Government in the audio-visual field. Mr. C. R. Reagan described the defunct film program of the U. S. Office of War In- formation, and pointed out some desirable trends should such an agency again be re-established to carry on a program of audio-visual education. The Contribution of Visual Aids to the War Meetings were held in the morning and afternoon of Saturday, July 24th. The morning meeting, over which Mr. Harry E. Erickson of RCA presided, was divided between a discussion of visual aids in military training, and demonstrations and statements of newer develop- ments in the field of audio-visual materials. Lieutenant, Colonel G. McGuire Pierce of the United States Marine Corps told of the use of audio-visual aids in combat training of the fighting Marine. He stated that complete dependence upon any single type of aid is out-of-the-question in military education; instead, the peculiar contributions of each type of ma- terial that make it especially effective for a given training job are utilized to the fullest extent. Thus, everything from sand tables, models, and dioramas to sound filmstrips and motion pictures are used in the training of the fighting Marine. To illustrate his point, Lieutenant-Colonel Pierce showed a 35mm filmstrip and a 16mm sound motion picture, both of which are regularly used in the Marine Corps training program. The second half of the Saturday morning meeting was given over to demonstrations and discussions of new developments in audio-visual materials relating to the war effort. Materials for pre-induction training were discussed by Mr. A. J. McClelland of Erpi Class- room Films. As illustrative of a wide-range of such teaching aids, one of a new series on radio was shown to the group. Mr. Curt Dechert of the Jam Handy Organization presented the findings of a questionnaire study of the factors inhibiting the use of audio-visual (Concluded on page 252)