Motion pictures for instruction (1926)

THREE STUDIES IN EDUCATIONAL FILMS 183 ture gives greater opportunity to the teacher to exert a personal influence and to stimulate the class to active thought. Our experiments give clear evidence on the last-mentioned factor, the influence of the teacher. Its importance is indicated by the advantage of oral comment by the teacher during the showing of a film, by the superiority of demonstration in teaching certain acts of skill and by the superiority of the illustrated lecture to an illustrated text. Thus far our discussion has dealt chiefly with the use of motion pictures and other visual aids in that type of instruction which aims largely at the acquisition of information by the pupil. A number of experiments were made in subjects in which the information to be gained is of an especially concrete sort, as in a science, or in which the pupil is required to learn to do something instead of merely acquiring information, as in manual arts and to some extent in laboratory science. 3. In teaching science, demonstration by the teacher is superior to the motion picture. This is proved to be true in both Hollis's and Kolfe's experiments. In both cases the proficiency of the pupils was measured in whole or in part by their ability to perform or to do something, not merely by their ability to express their knowledge in language. Wherein the superiority of the teacher lies is a matter of speculation, but that it exists is clear. It seems likely that it may be accounted for in part at least by the influence of the teacher >s personality in attracting and holding the attention of the pupils and by the fact that the teacher can watch their behavior and vary the presentation by amplifying