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

Bacon Urged Greater Use Of Senses In Education by Robert Fisher Jf RANCIS Bacon was the father of modern science. In his Novum Organum he attempted the categorization of all of science. In his New Atlantis he posited a perfect society based upon the principles of science. As did all the utopists Bacon made the schools the most important agency within the state. And no utopist, no other single educational writer in the history of educational ideas has ever made audiovisual methods and materials so important in his school system. It might also be added to Bacon's credit that no other writer has ever posited more original materials and found a wider range t)f application than he did. Bacon was committed to the proposition that education must utilize all the senses. He believed that if he were to produce the high level of creativity which he had proposed for his scholars, then opportunities would have to be present for direct sense-experiences, for example— manipulation of materials. He attempted to utilize laboratories and field trips in the teaching of every subject in the science curricuhun. Laboratories were essential in the teaching of This is the fourth in a series prepared by Dr. Fisher for EdScrcen 6 AVCuide on the interest of famous utopists in things audiovisual. Dr. Fisher is professor of pliUosophy at California State College, California, Pa. science, declared Bacon, because they permitted the study of data maintained under controlled conditions. Bacon conceived for example, laboratories that utilized wind tunnels, acoustical chambers, ovens, refrigerators and telescopes in his study of physics. Caves and artificial mines were proposed in the study of geology, and soil and rock specimens were present in each geological classroom. The buildings were to be surrounded by lakes which contained both fresh and salt water which were used by students of geology as well as by students of ichthyology. Extensive gardens abounded in New Atlantis. Every known variety of tree, herb, bush, and grass was grown in orchards next to the botanical gardens. The gardens and orchards served as a place for experimentation in speeding up the growth of plants and trees as well as means for the students to experiment in cultivating new types. Zoos were propounded by Bacon not only as localities which housed unusual and rare types of animals but also where breeds could undergo experimentation for improvement. Animals anatomically similar to man, as for example apes, were raised in zoos which insured a ready source of these animals for use in dissection in the medical school. Bacon felt that rooms should be provided wherein artificial storms, including hail, rain and snow could be reproduced for the advancement of the study of meterorology. Bacon, though unacquainted with the germ theory, had some insight into the cause of diseases; he stated that the study of medicine should include a laboratory where animals could be studied in a germ-free environment. The germ-free laboratory should be used to carry on experimentation in the cure and prevention of disease. Bacon was convinced that refrigeration would preserve certain materials. Thus laboratories that contained facilities for refrigeration were also part of the medical schools. The school of home economics and mechanical arts in the New Atlantis also used laboratories and work An English printing office in the year 1619. shops for experimentation and for means of improving diets, construction of home, etc. Large botanical gardens and enclosures were to be used by the school of (Continued on page 317) Edi'cational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — June, 1962 315