Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Creative Teaching Througli tlie Creative Use of Films by Dr. Stanley Applegate Director of the Curriculum Materials Center of the Manhasset (N.Y.) Public Schook "Daybreak In Udi" In the background we hear the voices of children at play. The camera moves among them and picks out a young boy learning to ride a bicycle. He gets on and falls off, gets on again and falls off, finally he rides wobblingly away. A narrator says, "This child is learning by making mistakes. What do you do when a child makes mistakes?" This is a one minute sequence in a thirty two minute film "Children Learning by Experience," a perfect "kick-off" for a faculty meeting, parent: teacher association program, or college class on the psychology of learning. And that one minute is all that is needed! Probably the most expensive assumption made by the users of educational films is that the film should always be used in its entirety just as it was produced and that it should be shown to the entire classroom or even a larger audience since after all it is a mass medium. This minimal use of one of the richest of our instructional materials is expensive not only because of the innumerable other ways the same film can be used but because in spite of the time, effort, and money which might be expended educational objectives are seldom if ever achieved through pre-packaged learning experiences which cannot possibly take into account individual needs, interests, and abilities. When films are used in this way the design of the instructional material itself dictates the curriculum and determines the learning process. The creative user of instructional materials regards the film as a possible source of learning experience. His selection and method of use is based on his over-all objectives, his knowledge of the growth and development of a particular group of students, and the application of his understanding of the learning process. He may use the same film in a number of different ways to help learners understand their needs, set goals for themselves, provide activities or experiences which will help them achieve their goals, evaluate progress toward fulfilling their goals, and reassess their needs. This process can best be seen through a number of examples in different subject areas. SCIENCE. A general science class is watching a short center section from the animated color film on oil, "As Old As the Hills." The sound is off and the teacher is asking the class, "How does a petroleum geologist know where to look for oil? What is he looking for when he makes a core sample? How does he know that the earth looks like this cross section on facing page?" This film is being used as an animated wall chart to help the students through group discussion to evaluate their progress in a unit on the formation of the earth's crust. ENGLISH. Students in a ninth grade have just seen the hair-raising opening three minutes of the feature film "Great Expectations" (available as an excerpt in the B.I.S. "Critic and Film" Series). The class is discussing: How does a film writer describe a scene like this one? Is the shooting script very differ ent from Dickens' version? What words would you use to paint a picture of the graveyard, the old church, the quay through the marsh, and the face of the esca])e(l (onvict? This film excerpt and discussion are planned by the teacher to have the students experience the challenge of creating visual images through words. .■\tteinpts to write a shooting script will help them identify their needs and set their individual goab. "Great Expectations" SOCIAL STUDIES. Students in a tenth grade World History class have been studying the cultures of primitive peoples. One of their richest resources has been the use of films on native populations: Africa ("Gold Coast People," "Father and Son," "Drums for a Holiday" and "The Future of One Million Africans"), Asia ("Song of Ceylon," "Focus on Kuwait"), and the Caribbean ("C a r i b b e'a n" and "El Dorado"). They have just seen the Academy Award winning documentary "Daybreak in Udi." The fihn depicts the efforts of the local District Officer in a Nigerian jungle community to use the efforts of the younger natives to build a maternity home against the strong opposition of the superstitious village elders. The teacher stops the film at this point; the maternity hospital is built, but no one dares to use it. A young wife breaks from the circle of witch doctors, frowning elders and won 236 EdScreen & AV Guide — May, 1 957