Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

16 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 3 Visual Program of Michigan Summer Workshop BY MARY ACETI The Michigan Working Conference is a one-week summer workshop on general curriculum problems. It has been held annually for the past six years. Since the Office of Defense Transportation limited the size of group meetings to 50, the Sixth Annual Workshop was held first at Clear Lake Camp, Dowling, Michigan, and then repeated the following week at the Michigan State Conservation Training Camp at Higgins Lake. Each of these workshops was attended by 50 administrators, classroom teachers, college representatives, and state consultants. Since the Michigan Working Conference is planned around the problems of the participants as surveyed on the first night of the Conference, the selection of visual materials was made by myselL^ from visual aids used at Denby High School, Detroit (where I direct the Visual Education Program) and some of the latest releases in our State Film Library (University of Michigan) and other sources. At the beginning of the week, a mimeographed sheet was distributed to participants, listing all visual aids available for their use during the week. These important tools served three main purposes : 1. At the request of small workinggroups, to supplement and stimulate interest in the problem being considered. For example, the group on Intel-cultural Relations asked for a showing of Negro Colleges in War Time; the Guidance group, Challenge to Crime, That *Mr. Helge Hansen helped prepare this summary. Boy Joe, and a sound slidefilm. We Choose Retailing; still another group used Challenge to Democracy and My Japan for discussion. 2. To introduce evening panel discussions, which were the outgrowth of the small group meetings. For example, Military Training was shown to iirepare the aiulience for a panel on “What Can We Learn From G. I. Methods?” Watchtower Over Tomorrow was very effectively used to introduce another panel on “Education for Peace.” A field trip to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary and three conservation films (Michigan Canoe Trails, Michigan Timber Harvest, and Michigan Beaver) were used to stimulate interest for another evening meeting on “How Can We Improve C o m m unity Living Through the Wise Use of Natural and Human Resources?” (These films were shown before the noon meal and the trip was taken in the afternoon, with the panel following in the evening.) 3. Believing that an important function of a visual program should be to acquaint teachers with the content of the latest visual mateiials, every opportunity was used to screen as many films as we possibly could. Films for previewing were shown immediately following the noon meal and before and after evening sessions. It is interesting to note that the Clear Lake participants each previewed an average of 11 V2 films or about 27 reels, spending an average time of about 5V2 hours per person. This becomes even more significant when one considers the very close schedule followed during the week and the fact that the previewing of films received keen competition for the participants’ leisure moments from the camp environment, craft activities, and organized recreational programs. A display of current magazines, books, pamphlets, and film catalogs was made available to the conference members. Sketches made by an art class at Denby High School while viewing the film Amazon Awakens were also exhibited. At the request of participants, discussions were held on the techniques of using visual aids in the classroom and how to organize a high-school visual education program. An interesting evening was devoted to the discussion of the so-called G. I. Methods, by a group of administrators who had the opportunity to visit 26 Armed Forces training centers. It was brought out that in spite of the fact that traditional school procedures lean heavily on hearing alone, studies show that 85 percent of all learning occurs through the sense of sight. The Navy, it was reported, found that by the use of visual-training aids, the student learned up to 35 percent more in a given time and remembered ideas and facts up to 55 percent longer. During the closing session of the Clear Lake Conference, an evaluation sheet was distributed to 20 members of the original group to evaluate the visual program of the week and help improve it for the following year. The participants felt that the best features of this year’s program were: its variety and quantity, its opportunity to preview the most recent films, the practical planning and flexibility of the schedule, and its gearing to group and individual interests. They were unanimous in feeling that they had been stimulated to make greater use of visual aids. The group stated that they wanted to know still