Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

Moy, 1946 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE 19 audience and make for a happier understanding of all the peoples of the earth. We know in education that the further we get from first-hand experience the less meaningful an educational experience will be. Radio is a good substitute for firsthand experience, because, annihilating space and time, it gives children a sense of actual participation in what is being presented in the program. In addition, we know that there are certain emotional factors that are important in the learning process. The progressive teacher utilizes those factors more and more. That brings us to the third important role that radio can play, the role of motivator. As a motivating force radio is outstanding. The American advertiser suspected long ago that radio might be used to cajole, coax, and convince the American housewife that she ought to buy his product, and he discovered to his satisfaction that radio was a super-salesman. At long last, educators have begun to use that super-salesman as a motivating and stimulating force. Outstanding in the use of radio to motivate classroom activities is the “Science Is Fun” program (Monday, WFIL, 2:15), for boys and girls of elementary grades. The program capitalizes on the natural curiosity of the child. It convinces him that science can be fun. This series consists of dramatizations which illustrate elementary scientific principles. Programs are divided into units, such as the weather, power, or transportation. Sometimes simple experiments are done on the air with instructions as to how to do them in the classroom at the same time. Children become so interested in these classroom “laboratories” that they carry on with their experiments at home and exchange reports with their young fellow scientists. One young man’s enthusiasm caused a little trouble at home. After a radio broadcast on condensation, he went home to conduct an experiment in connection with his nightly bath. He not only used the entire family’s supply of hot water for the evening, but he created steam for so long a time that the paper began to come off the wall ! Children become so interested in their science programs that of their own accord they bring in pictures and newspaper clippings regarding programs they have heard. The demand for books on science has increased in all libraries. Teachers discover new areas of interest among their boys and girls, enthusiasms of which the teachers have been previously unaware. The same thing has happened in connection with a program for elementary schools called “A Trip to the Zoo” (WIP, Wednesday 11:15). The program begins with a fanciful story, such as “Why the Coyote Has So Many Voices.” The story is followed by scientific facts about the animal, his natural habitat, and where he may be seen at the Philadelphia zoo. The story stimulates interest in the animal and gives a new glamour to old zoo friends. That leads to an interest in geography and in research. The heart-warming thing to one working in radio constantly is the spontaneous enthusiasm with which chilch’en “follow through.” After they have heard a broadcast, children want to find out more and more. On their own, and not because of a formal assignment, they go to books for further information. They take advantage of educational agencies like The Franklin Institute, the Univer sity of Pennsylvania Museum, and the Zoological Gardens. Radio as a motivating force is not limited, however, to elementary schools. Philadelphia’s “Junior Town Meeting” program, designed to “Help Youth Build Today for a Better Tomorrow,” acts as a powerful motivating force in the high schools. On this program, boys and girls hear youngsters of their own age discuss the atomic bomb, the problems of world peace, the local housing problem, and unemployment compensation. They follow the program with discussions of their own. Here is a device for introducing the controversial issue into the classroom. The teacher can take a place in the background and give students an opportunity to express their opinions, clarify their thinking, and weigh arguments which they hear. It is all part of training them to think for themselves, rather than to accept dogmatic beliefs. It gives them the experience of trying to form their own hypotheses, and thus prepares them to take their places as citizens of a free world. Follow-up activities after such a program sometimes take the form of written work or further research to prove the truth or falsity of a statement. Teachers of almost any subject find that this program, in addition to motivating students to valuable classroom activities, helps them to integrate their varied learning experiences. As an integrating force radio’s power is tremendous. Teachers who believe in learning by units rather than by isolated subjects are convinced of radio’s usefulness. In the “unit” or “core” curriculum all educational experiences are integrated, and the pattern of learning beconu's cl(*ar to tlu' studenl. Imaginative teachers have dis