See and hear : the journal on audio-visual learning (1945)

The See & Hear Mid-Century Ediforial: Halfway Up: Another Half to Go THE MID-CENTURY POINT of any 100-year period is the time to look back— to fondly recollect the things which were typical of the yesteryear— the time to look ahead, to make glowing prophecies of what lies ahead and to what glamorous heights we may climb! Let us look back and recollect. Fifty years ago the American school 7i'as attracting less than one-tenth of its high school age youth to the-schoolroom. It was a diy when the common aim of high school education was preparation for entrance into college or professional training school. It was a time when the elementary school w-as placing stress on reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic. New Tools to Help Face New Problems In the rural community, the paraphernalia of the schoolroom included the slate, the kerosene lamp, the dog-eared textbook, the lunch pail, the water bucket, the wood stove, and the hickory stick. It was a time of memoriter learning— a day when the most commonly recognized goal of the school was to pass on the accumulated information of the past. During the fifty-year period which has intervened, man has attained heights in communication skills which no era' of the past has ever dreamed possible. It has been the fulfillment of first, the entertainment motionpicture film, then the 16mm version of the same with the emphasis on adaptation to the schoolroom— to educational work. It has been the era of the development of the basic filmstrip, of the 2" x 2" slide, and the perfection of the opaque projector! The same period saw the development of the radio, and today, of television. It has seen the perfection of the transcription, the recording, and today's battle for micro-groove leadership. It has seen the development of the sound-recording device, of tlie flexible and high fidelity recording tape, and I6mm film stock. It is the period during which magazine, newspaper and book printing records have outstripped any volume of paper pulp to printed word medium ever attained. It is the era of glamorous format, of full color illustration, of larger, thicker school texts probing on ever widening spheres of information. These Are the Visions of Tomorrow .'\nd wliat ma\ tomorrow bring? In reading through several mid-century reports written by eminent school men of the country, very dazzling educational attainments are envisioned: field trips by air, television in every classroom, recording devices which will allow assignments to be submitted orally, techniques of communication which will ]iut administrators, supervisor, teacherand pupil in instantaneous touch whether on the playground, in the classroom, at the terminus of a remote field trip, or in any other department of the school's activities, facsimile textbooks, illustrated by wireless dispatch from all points of the globe, into every classroom in the land, television field trips into inaccessible corners of the earth's surface. These, and a host of other dreamed of accomplishments with the end in view of making learning graphic, vivid, realistic, and entirely vmderstandable have been forecast for the 19002000 era. But while it is intriguing to contemplate the changes which have occurred an dthe prophecies which are being made, there are those of us who steadily wish to pull ourselves back into the reality of the current school problems and ask ourselves: Are we sure that we are using those opportunities for the improvement of instruction which a modern technology has made available to us? For, as some point out, current surveys of the field of audio-visual instruction reveal that less than 25 per cent efficiency is made by our current school systems of the array of audio-visual teaching materials, equipment and techniques which are currently available but not well used in the schools of America. . . . and These the Realities of Today! Therefore, let us contemplate the problem as it exists. We are today attracting over 75 per cent of high school age youth to our schools, and well over 90 per cent of our possible elementary age school population. Schools e\erywhere demand that this group remain in school until 18 years of age, that they investigate an increasing world environment not even contemplated by their grandparents, that they prepare themselves for a complicated world of tomorrow which none of us completely envisions. In order to do this today, we need to bring reality, realism, vividness, objectivity, imderstanding, and high interest into our classroom techniques. All of us must ask omsehes this question: Are w'c sure that, as we pause in the midst of our "backward" look— as we pause in our conversations envisioning the glamorous future^ore we sure that we are making the best of the advantages ivhich today audio-visual instructional materialSj equipment and techniques hold? After we have listened attentively to the prophets let each one of us apply himself diligently to an orderly examination of the degree to which we are currently and efficiently applying the knowledge of today to the improvement of our local school teaching techniques. In this spirit we submit the following brief check list, an adaptation of a list by Clyde K. Miller, Supervisor of AudioVisual Education, Gary Public Schools, Gary, Indiana. Check it! Be guided by it for the further improvement of audio-visual instructional techniques in your school systems: SEE & HEAR