New Dimensions Through Teaching Films (1963)

[Music] [Applause] well ladies and gentlemen I think this concludes our session on film usage today I hope you found it helpful oh yes excellent wonderful I think it was a very rewarding session well thank you Mr Boardman Jack I wish that more people in our County Teachers principls AV directors superintendents curriculum and Library Personnel I wish they could have shared this past hour with us well um perhaps we can repeat this session I'd certainly like to try well actually there is a way we can share our experiences with you through film we can repeat the meeting we held here the other day as part of a teacher Institute we held in our instructional material Center our Center serves about 150 schools here we offer to all our school Personnel the usual resource materials they include periodicals and curriculum materials films film strips Maps charts and globes tapes and Records learning programs various kinds of models and of course the equipment for using AV materials School Personnel who used the center and helped to direct it include teachers principles and superintendents audiovisual directors our curriculum coordinator and our supervising librarian to help prepare our session on film usage I had the help of one of our most enthusiastic AV directors well I think I have all the film clips that were requested for the meeting Jack oh fine I'm glad we're stressing film usage Ed you wouldn't be prejudiced for films now would you you know I am say here's something that'll interest you it's a recent study of an instructional material Center done by a survey team at your old on Mo read it this committee believes and most audiovisual experts agree that the film Library especially on the county level is the heart of any instructional material Center an adequate collection of films properly used is basic to a minimum educational program today well that's what I've been preaching for years you know Jack it's time we realize that educational films have come of age Ed was right at the meeting we set up we stressed film usage and I had asked various teachers to give examples of film use in the classroom now let me show you what happened I'd like to present Miss balding primary teacher at Lincoln School who will tell us about using language arts films in the primary grades Miss balding thank you I'm not going to make a speech but I have a few excerpts from films and I'll talk about them I use many primary films that are designed to provide a background for reading and expression ready for developing reading skills we often begin with material they know for kindergarten or first grade I might start with a favorite story such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears relating words to images such as these can make reading and an exciting Adventure the children relate quickly to familiar friends such as baby bear or mama bear from the make believe House of the Three Bears we might go to a more realistic story such as the ugly duckling in film we can share the trials and Triumph of the ugly duckling together can you purr said the cat no said the ugly duckling can you lay eggs said the hen no said the ugly duckling and he felt quite useless when we have experienced the whole story and have actually seen the transformation of the duckling from this into to this I get enthusiastic response in oral expression as my youngsters retell the story for vocabulary building for developing word meanings I use films designed for the purpose can you think of a better way to introduce a new word or to reinforce the meaning of a familiar word in another context appealing stories in film motivate language Arts activities easily and effectively in addition to a Charming story line many well-designed primary films include carefully builtin science Concepts such as parental care of the young obtaining food or adaptations to environment in the physical world we have films that introduce us to the sea to the wind or to the changing seasons and these are only a few examples of the use of film at the prime Ary level Mrs Palmer will tell you about the use of film in social studies at the intermediate level thank you m bowling I'd like to use some examples of film to illustrate learning about people people of our world today people of the world of yesterday now of course we use books still pictures Maps magazines but I know of no better way to bring living people into my classroom than by the use of film please we can go to a camel Market of the North African desert to learn about life in a hot dry land we can go on a trapping trip with our Eskimo friends to learn about life in a cold land we can ride with the gouto of the Argentine Pampers to watch the fast action of a Roundup as we learn about life in a grassland or we can glide in a canoe along the banks of the Amazon River as we learn about life in a hot wet rainforest but films bring us more than pictures of people they bring us experience by a process of identification films evoke participation in the happenings on the screen we can share breakfast with Thaddius and his family in Poland or in Japan we can help mishiko with the rice Harvest different films bring us close to Farmers in Many Lands of the world films bring us close to factory workers in different lands of the world but whether we're learning about herdsmen in New Zealand or in Peru or merchants in France or in Morocco we're learning about people people earning a living changing from old ways to new methods going to school all of these lands and peoples are part of our world the complex changing World in which our children are growing up today films can help prepare our children to take their place in the the world of today and of Tomorrow of course the world of yesterday is part of social studies too Mr Reinhardt is going to tell us more about films for history thank you Mrs Palmer in the intermediate grades I've used films that were especially rich in mood in flavor in action in such films children can readily go back in time and identify with people of the past with young Abe Lincoln Learning to ride in Indiana or with an unknown boy making a Pioneer Journey to the Oregon Country your youngsters can take part in historic events they can Sail on the Mayflower to the shores of the new world and celebrate with the pilgrims the first Thanksgiving in America or we can relive another exciting event As Told by Longfellow the drama of the midnight ride of Paul [Music] River and low as he looks on the bel's height a glimmer and then a gleam of light he Springs to the saddle the bridal he turns but lingers and gazes till full on his sight a second lamp in the belfrey burns a hurry of ho in a village Street a sheep in the Moonlight a bulk in the dark and beneath from the pebbles in passing a spark struck out by a steed flying fearless and Fleet that was all and yet through the Gloom and the light the fate of a nation was riding that night yes the fate of a nation was riding that night and when you put this living history this pageant of America into your classroom and as you trace the growth of the nation you'll be using a larger canvas another dimension to bring your young people the heritage of America that Dimension is film now for world history at the high school School level we can use more sophisticated films films designed to bring life and meaning to cultures other than our own in such films we see not only authentic costumes and accurate stagings of people such as these Romans but we see them in the original locations in a restored Roman fort on the ramp parts of the empire in Germany film brings to life the great figures of History Charlamagne the emperor will reign again and film cannot only recreate it can report reality probably most of us have seen pictures of this famous pyramid in Mexico but only film can recreate the ancient Aztec Dancers and pyramid together in a living religious ceremony only film can employ such techniques in the teaching of History thank you Bill now I'd like to touch briefly on three more areas art music and literature my point is that today there are films designed for just about everything you have to teach now I'd like to show you three short excerpts and will'll let the examples speak for themselves a music film an art film and a literature film this film film biography of Beethoven interprets his music in terms of The composer's Life and [Music] Times but Beethoven's music reflects far more than the classic tradition of the 18th century for this century was also a time of change the spirit of the French Revolution had surged across Europe the common people were fighting for democracy they were struggling for new ideals of freedom and Brotherhood these ideals influenced Beethoven his third Symphony the eroica or heroic Symphony reflects the drama of the revolutionary period Beethoven dedicated the symphony to the great French hero Napoleon bonapart Who Rose to power out of the Revolution Beethoven probably thought that Napoleon would preserve the Liberties of the French people when Napoleon became dictator instead Beethoven denounced him some people believe that the real hero of the Heroica is Beethoven himself and now another film another famous face this is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci let's listen to the narrator analyzing certain aspects of Leonardo's art so hands in this painting as in many of Leonardo's Works do much to point up the expressiveness and drama of the scene graceful expressive hands add to the beauty of one of the world's most famous paintings the monaa by Leonardo in this haunting portrait in the collection of the Lou Museum in Paris Leonardo seems to have captured the lady's very personality is she beginning to smile or is she recalling to herself a past moment of beauty and tenderness we shall never be certain and now let's move from this portrait in the history of art to the living portrait of an American Author Mr Twain did you and the other boys in Hannibal really want to be steamboatmen oh yes boy after boy managed to get on the river by and by I ran away too I said I would never come home again till I was a pilot and could come in glory I love that profession far better than any I've followed since and I took a measureless pride in it Mark Twain's experiences as a steamboat pilot are reflected in some of his many books books your classes will be motivated to read after meeting the author in film films in these categories music art literature can be very Rich emotionally but they can be built on sound pedagogy too for example in the Leonardo film that was the original monola you saw as it hangs in the Lou the Mark Twain film was made in Twain's own home in Hartford and every word the actress speaks is from Mark Twain's writings so you see in the modern instructional film you're getting a product carefully designed for you a tool that expands your teaching potential I think our av director of District 41 would agree wouldn't you Mr Schuman yes I would Jack Mr Schuman has some science and math examples to show us it's all yours Ed thank you very much well you know as an AV director I'm constantly reminding our film users that there are films for their particular grade level for their particular area and for their particular purpose now let's see if I can illustrate that with some science examples probably the symbol for the the Space Age we live in is this I thought you'd be expecting it so I'll show it [Music] first of course rockets and satellites are important and exciting but to prepare our young people for an increasingly complex and Technical world we have to begin to lay a groundwork in Science and Mathematics very early in this primary film the children are counting pennies and experiencing a basic concept in mathematics place value the concept of place value can be reinforced perhaps as a review at the intermediate level and it can be introduced again at higher levels with a binary system for example where binary arithmetic may be related to the function of the computer films can show mathematical relationships quickly and graphically as in this example of congruency or in this example illustrating the derivation of the formula for the area of a triangle the same Concepts in math of course can carry over into the physical sciences calculating Vector forces for example concepts of force and motion can be developed as early as the primary grades with science films designed for that level to present difficult Concepts such as the structure of the atom and nuclear energy the special techniques that only film can employ are a must for today's classroom and so whether it's one for intermediate science or one in space for general science or one for high school physics the point is that such special techniques are built into films correlated for your particular curriculum and grade level now a little more about these techniques such as animation time lapse photomicrography and so on properly used they're extremely effective of course without animation it would be impossible to show the movement of ions in a solution during electrolysis or the movement of molecules through the human kidney without photomicrography it would be impossible to show living bacteria or the movement of chloroplasts in a living Leaf without time-lapse photography it would be impossible to watch these flowers open or this grasshopper emerge in a few seconds without C fluoroscopy we couldn't show food actually being swallowed or the living human heart but let's remember that all these spectacular techniques are only a means to an end that end is the total meaning that is conveyed to your students so films can bring together many elements in a single presentation films can reinforce and supplement your teaching and they can save you valuable time for example this looks fairly simple doesn't it yet how long would it take you to set up the boy behind the glass get the necessary materials and practice your art work here too the setup is not very complex these glass cubes and Bell jar are standard equipment but this demonstration of air pressure does take time to prepare the film saves you that preparation time yet preserves every important step of the performance could you predict exactly when the glass cubes will break with film you can do it every time and have your class alerted and interested now watch closely as the air pressure around the cubes becomes much less than the air pressure inside the [Music] cubes a chemistry teacher might perform this experiment the melting of sodium chloride table salt but what you're seeing here in a few moments took 8 hours to set up and film the temperature required to melt the salt is 800° Centigrade so you see a science film may show the same demonstration a science teacher could do but it can also add elements beyond the demonstrator such as these intervals being added photographically a science teacher might use this ball in the classroom but it's not easy to drop a ball from a Tower 200 ft High except in film not only can we drop the ball we can mark the distance intervals and see the acceleration to see how a similar experiment might have been performed film can take us to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Galileo's time and then to gain more understanding of the scientific method that underlies all experiment mentation we might want to see Great Men of the history of science Aristotle for example the father of the scientific method teaching his students and so from Aristotle's Outdoor School 2,000 years ago to This research laboratory today films can compress space and time to help you teach science now I'd like like each of you to ask yourself do you think you can meet the requirements of your curriculum without the use of film thank you well Ed ended his presentation but that wasn't the end of our meeting I helped Ed answer questions and we soon got into a lively discussion on film usage in other areas guidance physical education and teacher training so what I've showing you is a short version of our meeting on film usage but that's why I used film to do it it compresses time of course as you've seen by now film can do much more than that here is an educational tool that is not only one of the most powerful ever devised it's been tried it's been tested and it's effective the educational film has come of age it offers New Dimensions in teaching and is playing a major role in achieving the high goals we have set for American Education