The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

schools had a room on each floor that could be darkened. It would seem that the Earthlings have put the cart before the horse inasmuch as they have bought projection equipment in many cases before they have suitable facilities for using it to best advantage. They would be wise to plan a program whereby every classroom would be a real workshop of learning in which all tools of learning could be put to use. The various communities of the United States are now engaged in a great school building program. We should like to report that forward-looking educators have provided for proper use of visual equipment in these new schools. True, some very attractive plans have been projected, but the new schools we visited magnify instead of help solve the picture projection problem. Many of them employ glass brick and multilateral lighting that make it extremely difiBcult to use projected pictures. Some educators have suggested the use of light-tight boxes for projection from the front of the room, but for the most part these are so bulky and the screens so small as to be almost useless. The usual trend is toward setting up one special room, something like a small auditorium, where classes may be taken to see films. The committee visited one school of 1500 pupils where only one such room had been set aside for audio-visual purposes. We need not belabor the point that this practice does not make for the most effective learning. Apparatus Today practically every U. S. school worthy of the name has a filmstrip projector, slide projector, opaque projector, sound motion picture projector, record player, portable radios, tape or wire recorder, and occasionally a television receiver. The equipment is of good quality but needs to be made more efficient. Simplified auto matic threading, which the Martians have had for over a thousand years, has only recently been introduced in filmstrip projectors in the United States. All motion picture projectors should soon be similarly equipped. And tungsten bulbs of arc light intensity, such as the Mars GWhizz, should also soon be available. Educational television is in its infancy in the United States jmd will probably remain so until school systems own and operate their own stations and make projection television gener ally available. I Sfill Pictures Flat pictures are used extensively on bulletin boards, in scrapbooks, for room decorations, and for study during lessons. The Committee noted, however, that for the most part these pictures are merely looked at rather than used for real study purposes. Techniques need to be revised and devised whereby children are trained to get information from pictures. Especially neglected in this respect are the pictures in textbooks. Here each child has a copy of the picture before him and may really learn much from it if properly guided by a skilled teacher, as we Martians well know from long experience. One of the great needs of the United States is for better sets of still pictures for teaching purposes. Informative Classroom Picture Publishers are now doing a good job in this respect. Perry Prints, Conipton's Picture Units, and a few others are available, but there is still a real need for large, inexpensive sets of pictures that fit curricular purposes. Slides The use of the regular-size slide seems to be on the decline in the United States. This is to be deplored. A hopeful sign, however, is the interest in handmade lantern slides, with which many teachers are working. The Uni MARTIAN SCIENTISTS dig and delve, trace down and split up, investigate and frustrate. 220 Educational Screen