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

Administration, Supervision, School Board, Psychology and Teaching, Teacher-Training. it is reported by James McPherson Audio-Visual Consultant, California (Reference Bibliography on Page 50) NEWLY DEVELOPED audio- visual instructional mate- rials have proved them- selves to be good and effective tools of learning. Wisely chosen visual materials can be of great assistance in helping the classroom teacher achieve the objectives toward which it is her responsibility to lead her youngsters. However, there is reason to feel that the whole field of audio- visual instruction needs to be taken out of the fantasy stage and brought down to a realistic level where we know definitely of what we speak. We need to tack down the claims that we make. We need to study the research and produce more research which will allow us to cite with accuracy the values that can be achieved when visual materials are brought in as supplements to class- room instruction. Realistic learning experiences cer- tainly have more meaning to the individual and particularly to the young individual. This would seem true as a matter of simple logic, but not always are such when we explain them to youngsters. For this reason, a consideration of research findings concerning the values to be derived from the use of audio-visual ma- terials in learning has been under- taken. Briefly, research (inditigs re- lated to a series of eight frequently asked questions will be answered in terms of what the research evidence has to say aljout them. At meetings of school boards, lo- cal community groujjs, and teachers, the question is frequently asked, "What is this field of visual educa- tion all about, anvhow? What docs it do? Are we going to entertain our \oungsters in school? Can children really learn from visual materials? Can't you give us some information on this?" Audio-visual workers are so often put "on the spot" by such questions that an effort has been made to attempt to discover just what some of the authoritative research has to say about some of the common ques- tions relating to the usefulness of these materials. This information has been organ- ized under eight headings. It is pre- sented to you for the use you may make of it in your own community and school relationships. /. Audio-visual materials provide an effective means of presenting all kinds of concrete, factual informa- tion to learners. This fact is shown by a host of studies in which meas- urements have been made of this particular educational value of the motion picture and other types of audio-visual aids. Several studies will serve to indicate the trend of find- ings. In 1923, Ellis and Thorn- borough^ reported that the use of visual materials in the presentation of a lesson accomplished better re- sults in one-fourth of the time needed for oral presentation. In 1929, Knowl- ton and Tilton- re|)orted that an over-all gain in knowledge of 19 per cent was accomplished by using educational films in history teaching. At the conclusion of this experiment the piqiils in ihe experimental group were found to be over a year more mentally mature in their thinking than pupils in the control group. Average pupils in the experimental group learned as much as bright pupils in the control group. Also in 1929, Wood and Freeman'' found that children in an experimental group with whom educational films were used gained an average of 38 per cent of the standard deviation of all the scores. In geography and science areas gains of 85 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively, of one standard deviation were made. Arn- spiger^ reported in 1933 that the use of sound films resulted in a gain in knowledge of 25.9 per cent over instruction carried on without the use of sound films. The same year Rulon' found that teaching carried on with the aid of films was 20.5 per cent more effective than the usual unaided presentation of history lesson materials. Film-taught groups also learned from 10.4 per cent to 21.8 per cent more according to tests conducted by Wise" in 1939. The great majority of research experiments of an authoritative na- ture in this field have been concerned primarily with the effects of motion pictiues. However, dining the recent war, the training programs of our armed forces made extensive use of other audio-visual aids along with training films. Those in charge of these programs were, therefore, able to observe the effectiveness of a grral j'aricty of audio-insual materials used in a correlated training program. .Xccording to information from Ar- my authorities,'* one tank center was 36 SEE AND HEAR