Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

REEL and SLIDE 87% of Human Knowledge Comes by Way of "Eye Gate'' It is our purpose in the present monograph to cover thoroughly, although somewhat briefly: First, the theory of visual instruction; Second, to point out some of the uses to which visual instruction may be practically and advantageously applied; Third, to suggest, in a general way, sources from which slides and motion picture films may be obtained; Fourth, to present a discussion, free from technicalities and complicated terms of the different kinds of projection-— their comparative values and the means employed for their accomplishment. No. I — Theory of Visual Instruction THE theory of visual instruction is based on the fact established by our experimental psychologists, that, as a perceiver, the sense of sight is worth nearly seven times as much as all the other senses combined. To apply figures, in the average normal person, perception is achieved approximately as follows : 87% through the sense of seeing. 7% through the sense of hearing. 3^% through the sense of feeling. IV2% through the sense of smelling. 1% through the sense of tasting. Suppose I asked: "Would you rather be blind or deaf?" It doesn't take you very long to decide, does it? But the chances are you do not know how vastly more terrible one of these afflictions would be than the other. It would be twelve and one-half times as bad to be blind as it would to be deaf, according to these figures. The point of all this is that your sense of sight is by far your keenest perceiver. Not only is it the keenest, but it is almost the most retentive. In old days they used to "sing" the multiplication table. Why? Because it was easier to remember what they sang than what was just spoken — because the multiplication table did not create any mental picture which could be called up at will. The constant endeavor of the modern educator is to create in the student a mental picture. That mental picture in 87 cases out of 100 can be best created visually. The efficiency of visualization is due to two facts — first, that the sense of sight is by far the keenest for perception ; second, that of all things created, innumerally more are capable of being perceived visually than in all other ways. Gorilla as a Test Let us consider the gorilla (I have selected the gorilla because he is unfamiliar to most of us). Describe as nearly as you can to your class, or any member of it, the gorilla and ask him to write a description of it. Then show them or him the picture here shown and ask for another written description. You will be amazed at the discrepancies between the two and, particularly, at the Student of Visual Instruction Outlines Theory of the Screen as an Aid to Modern Education— Gives Interesting Example and Test By Morton A. Bassett wrong impressions conceived from your description. Manv a pupil is called stupid or willfully obstinate, when another pupil, who, by rote and parrot-like, learns only to repeat what the teacher says or the way the description sounds, he gets credit for being very The sense of sight is the keenest. Morton A. Bassett points out why in this article. bright, while, as a matter of fact, he has no more conception of the actual appearance or real state of the thing than the pupil called "stupid." If both pupils were made to think for themselves you would find their mental pictures of the same thing, conceived by themselves from your description, utterly different, each basing his mental picture on his previous visual experience. If you could take your class out traveling all over the world, showing them rivers, mountains, lakes, plateaus, industries, agricultural operations, flowers, birds, animals, and the like, you would be giving them the very best possible education. Obviously, then, the most efficient way to teach is through the "eye gate." Actual experience is the best teacher. A pupil who has never seen a locomotive, for instance, has no mental picture of it, except that derived from photographs and descriptions, and looks forward with wonder and amazement to the actual seeing of it. How Pictures Do the Work The next best thing is to show pictures of geography, science, industries, history; to present and explain correct visual images which may be quickly perceived and quickly called up. This, then, explains the use of pictures, maps, globes, models and charts. The question arises at once as to the relative expediency of stereopticon slides and motion pictures as compared with small pictures and diagrams which may be handed around. It is answered immediately on the ground of comparative efficiency. A number of small pictures may be handed around the room, but, in this case, one or, at the most, a very few can look at the same picture at a time. The smallness of the picture which can be handed about most destroy the value of its details, and the teacher must go about from student to student explaining first one picture and then another, or else sit idly by until the picture has been handed around the entire class, by which time the first student has forgotten much of it. A screen picture is presented to the entire class at one time, explained to every one at the same time, questions may be asked during the explanation ; in addition to which, the rest of the room being darkened or at least partly so, the picture stands out as the brightest spot, naturally concentrating all the attention, and securing the interested attention of the class is half the instructive battle won. (Copyright, by Morton A. Bassett.) "Describe the gorilla to your classin words — then show them his picture— see zvhich they remember m,ost: clearly."