UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1952 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Foreword WHEN we think of the potential values, some of which have already been demonstrated, that lie in the application of television to teaching, we become aware of a mighty aid to education, waiting to be harnessed for use. In teaching skills, in providing illustrations for science and the social studies or the language arts, and, in fact, in art generally, television adds sight and sound. Wherever demonstration is required, the picture with sound can be of inestimable service to the learning process. Television possesses the element of living experience, occurring at the moment, as we view it, that creates high interest and compels instant attention. Many school systems will soon have access to programs on their own or on nearby educational television stations, when programs can be built to meet individual curriculum needs. It is hoped that this first publication of the Office of Education in this field will be of value and service to those who are beginning now to use television as a teaching aid both within and outside their classrooms. GALEN JONES, Director, Instruction, Organization, and Services Branch. WAYNE O. REED, Assistant Commissioner for State and Local School Systems. Introduction TELEVISION ELEVISION presents a new, flexible, and inexpensive means of illustrating a lesson. Television is both audio and visual, to use the term audio-visual, applied in the past particularly to motion pictures, film strips, slides, recordings, and similar valuable aids to teaching. Television is a picture in motion with sound occurring at the same moment being simultaneously brought to the ear. At television's best. things are actually happening when we see and hear them! It is living vital experience containing all the elements of human suspense and possibility of error as well as achievement. In the laboratory, viewing the operating table, picking up a news event, or watching a speaker or a spectator, what comes to our eyes and ears did not exist a moment before and may not exist a moment later. The best we could do now to preserve it would be to record it as a motion-picture film. Such films, called kinescopes can be made at considerably less time and effort than present-day films, and will, no doubt, provide rich libraries of additional materials for education in the future. Radio (or sound alone) possesses the ability to (1) attract and hold interest, (2) stimulate the imagination, and (3) aid in the retention of factual material; that is, thought cast into sound. Let us see what happens when sight is added. It still attracts and holds interest; however, the second factor, the imagination, is often diminished because greater detail has been added; but the third factor, retention of material, has been increased since a more forceful impression has been made on the mind. Therefore, in considering which form of media we shall use in a given learning situation, we need but analyze the medium. Film-strips, made from television, will have a tremendously important part in teaching in the future, since they will be used to reiterate upon the mind, the important segments in the pattern making up a well-planned lesson. Elements inherent in the television form of presentation are: (1) appeal to the emotions, (2) appeal by parallels to preconceived concepts already established in the mind, (3) appeal to the sense of enjoyment and pleasure associated with past experiences of a similar nature, (4) appeal by the suggestion of new concepts laid down in the fuller field of receptivity established by the first three conditions present in the television lesson. This new medium of education has a potential being sensed all over the civilized world. As a communications medium, television is unique in its ability to bring many other aids into the classroom. Every audio and visual help we have ever known can be carried by television-motion pictures, film strips, slides (particularly to provide settings for dramatic productions) recordings, drawings, maps, and countless other instructional devices. Moreover, it gives schools the opportunity to present fresh, original, creative illustrations produced in the living present. The free element of choice is greatly increased when television is available. This bulletin is the first presentation of factors being considered in a survey of educational television by the Office of Education, Federal Security Agency. It is hoped that it will prove helpful in a further discussion of this fast-moving development in American schools. FRANKLIN DUNHAM, Chief, Educational Uses of Radio-Television. |