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

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IT ISN'T AUTOMATIC by Thoinai' H. Boardiiian. Aiulio-\"isual Director, Freeport (111.) Schools IN RECENT YEARS the audio-visual program has received wide acclaim as the most effective medium to be used bv a teacher who wants to be economical with her time. Yet many teachers who have tried to use these materials have found the results don't live up to the claims made for them. Why? Actually there are many reasons, but one that is all- inclusive is this: Teachers don't take time to use audio- visual materials to their full advantage; too many have the impression that some kind of magic is inherent in a film or record and that learning from these sources is automatic. If there is an)-thing automatic about teaching, the audio-visual program ISNT it. The audio-visual pro- gram must be mentally and manually operated. Because so many teachers feel that this program is self-suflScient, a study was made to determine just how automatic these materials are. You as a teacher will find it worth your reading time to finish this article and find out what the study revealed. They Don't Always Believe What They See A rather startling revelation to come from audio-visual studies is that many students do not accept or believe what they see on the screen. Students may see a film on Holland showing that they dress much the same as we, but in a test these students answer that typical Dutch dress is wooden shoes and baggy pants. Or they may see a film on Switzerland shomng the very extensive use of electricity and in a test state that Switzerland uses but little electricity. Why? The students are xmprepared to accept new ideas and concepts, so they fall back on their previous ideas that probably came from the traditional stories told in the early elementary grades. In later years neither the teaching nor the learning was automatic. Part one of this study was to find to what extent stu- dents who had false impressions of customs, dress, activi- ties and living conditions in several foreign countries, changed their concepts when the correct visual information alone was expected to do the job. To determine what false impressions students have, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 117 5th and 6th grade students early in the school year. During the year eight special units were given which visually and verbally gave the correct impressions. The questionnaire was repeated at the close of the year and the false impressions that changed were counted. The percentage results appear later in the article. No Automatic Increase in Total Learning The second part of this study was to see if there was an increase in total learning over traditional methods when films were used automatically. Each class read four of the special units and were tested, the other four units com- bined reading, seeing a correlated film and testing. This was done as automatically as possible, or it might be stated —a poor method of film utilization was used. The students were not expecting to see a film; there was no class prep- aration of any kind, and there was no follow-up except the test. This procedure is inadequate, but many teachers use it regularly. ♦Results of the Ouestionnaire: Of the twenty-seven questions only five had lO'/v or more of the students change to correct answers, and well over half the questions had less than 50% of the students change their opinions during the year. The range was from 14 to 85%. and the average was approximately 45%. I doubt if teachers are satisfied when only 45% of the class finish a year's study knowing the correct answers. The suggestion is made that teachers might find it advantageous to devise a question- naire and use it in a similar manner, making sure to cor- rect the wrong impressions as they come up in the regular course of study. ♦ Results of the Special I'nits: This was a measurement of one type of film utilization (conceded to be a poor onel to traditional methods (reading only). This study certainly indicated that the amount of learning was far less than might have been expected. The overall percentage gain was 6.19%. Other audio-visual studies in this field indicate that with better utilization, gains of from 20 to 30% could have been expected. CONCLUSIONS: 1. The students who got the greatest benefit from this type of film presentation were those who were poor readers. The good readers showed practically no gain. 2. The percentage gain with this type of presentation, compared to what could be gained by using a method that is educationally sound, should make teachers dissatisfied with anything but good methods. 3. One of the aims of the social studies program is to have students realize the many similarities between our country and others. This study indicates that less than 50'^c of the students in the 5th and 6th grades will change their opinions unless the teacher takes special care to call attention to the false impressions. This strengthens the opinion that the Audio-Visual program is not automatic, but manually and mentally operated. 4. The general consensus of opinion by the teachers who participated in this study was that a questionnaire used at the beginning of each year would be invaluable. It would help teachers realize the areas of false conceptions that needed to be corrected during the year. 5. At the close of the study the students answered a brief questionnaire. It was discovered that students are aware of the contribution a film can make and are dis- satisfied with poor methods of utilization. There are many excellent books describing good methods of classroom film utilization. One of the most excellent descriptions is in the book Audio-] isual Paths to Learning, W. A. Wittich, Harper Bros., 1946. It is also suggested that every school subscribe to the audio-visual magazines. See and Hear and Educational Screen, in which one often finds articles by teachers describing successful meth- ods of film utilization. It is worth your time to get good results. • The Audio-Visual Journal 21