TEACHING MACHINES AND PROGRAMMED LEARNING

[Music] long I am BF Skinner professor of psychology at Harvard University I should like to discuss some of the reasons why studying with the help of a teaching machine is often dramatically effective with the machine you have just seen in use the student sees a bit of text or other printed material in a window this may be a sentence or two equation and arithmetic some small part is missing and the student must Supply it by writing on Ros strip of paper his response may be the answer to a question or the solution of a problem but generally it is simply a symbol or word which completes the material he has just read as soon as the student has written his response he operates the machine and learns immediately whether he is right or wrong this is a great improvement over the system in which papers are corrected by a teacher where the student must wait perhaps till another day to learn whether or not written is Right such immediate knowledge has two principal effects it leads most rapidly to the formation of correct Behavior the student quickly learns to be right but there is also a motivating effect the student is free of uncertainty or anxiety about his success or failure his work is pleasurable he does not have to force himself to study a classroom in which machine are being used is usually the scene of intense concentration one function of a teaching machine then is to give the student a quick report on the adequacy of his response this is important not only for efficient learning it generates a high level of interest and enthusiasm another important Advantage is that the student is free to move at his own pace with techniques in which a whole class is forced to move forward together the bright student wastes time wasting waiting for others to catch up and the slow student who may not be inferior in any other respect is forced to go too fast not quite completing one day's assignment he is even less likely to complete a second and he gets farther and farther behind and often gives up all together unless remedial steps are taken a student who is learning by a machine moves at the rate which is most effective for him the fast student covers a course in a short time but the slower student by giving more time to the subject can cover the same ground both learn the material thoroughly a third feature of machine teaching is that each student follows a carefully constructed program leading from the initial stage where he is wholly unfamiliar with the subject to a final stage in which he is competent he does this by taking a large number of very small steps arranged in a coherent Order each step is so certain to take it correctly the material is designed to give the student as much help as possible he is not in any sense being tested instead helpful hints suggestions and prompts maximize the chances that he will be right the fact that each step is very small is important even though it may not seem like much of an accomplishment it is always progress in the right direction programs have been constructed in which without any prior study the average student is Right 95% of the time this result is partly due to the fact that the student only moves on when he has completely mastered all the preceding material if he is absent he does not miss any work because he takes off takes up where he left off Upon returning to the machine a conservative estimate seems to be that with these machines the average grade or high school student can cover about twice as much material with the same amount of time and effort as with traditional classroom techniques there is no magic about this a teaching machine is simply a convenient way of bringing the student into contact with the man who writes the program it is the the author of the program not the machines who teaches he stands in the same position as a textbook writer except that he is much closer to the student he and the student are constantly interacting this interaction can be mediated in different ways of course and each way means a different kind of teaching machine each having special features and advantages here is Dr Arthur Luman of the University of California in Los Angeles who will discuss several possibilities with you Professor Skinner has identified three main features that we find in all teaching machines continuous active responding by the student immediate confirmation or correction of each response he makes and provision for each student to proceed individually as rapidly as his abilities permit professor Professor Sydney prey at Ohio State University was the first to implement these conditions in a teaching machine using one of prey's early machines this child answers each question as it appears in a window of the Machine by pressing one of the Four Keys to show which answer she thinks is correct if she picks the right response the machine goes on to the next question if wrong she tries again until she gets the right answer meanwhile a counter provides a record of her performance perance pressy also developed some simplified devices such as these used in conjunction with questions on a mograph form more recently attention has centered on the preparation of long carefully programmed SE sequences of teaching material based on techniques originated by Skinner with most of the current programs the student constructs his own response by writing it in machines like this one which preserve a continuous record of his responses or simplified machines like this one in which the student writes directly on the program material of course the heart of any machine is not the external hardware but the program of instructional materials which it presents to the student the current prevailing trend is to sequence this material in very small steps to Each of which the student can respond easily and naturally as he proceeds here for example is the the first frame of a program in high school physics after the student has written his response he verifies it by disclosing the correct answer so gradually are the concepts developed that he is almost always right here's the third frame in this same sequence the answer the student has written is again verified when he discloses the answer panel although each step is very small and easy the student quickly extends his knowledge about the subject matter for example a few seconds later he comes to this Frame which requires him to predict a new fact after about 30 more steps the student can State correctly in his own words a general rule that covers the concepts he has studied to get to this stage may take only about 10 minutes for a bright student or as long as half an hour for a slower student but meanwhile all students have acquired real understanding of the concepts through repeatedly employing them in varied contexts a most important step in developing these carefully sequenced materials is that they are tried out in preliminary form with students so that they go through a process of cumulative revision based on students responses before they're considered ready for widescale use the analysis of student responses to each step of the program removes many ambiguities and stumbling blocks to understanding that would otherwise lead to errors and misconceptions a very large number of frames is required to cover a subject matter like physics for example at the American Institute for research Dr David clous developed about 3,000 frames to cover six weeks of high school physics a large scale try out of these materials in 15 Pennsylvania schools showed substantial gains in the knowledge of physics that was attained even when the materials were used on a voluntary basis the importance of the program as distinguished from the machines is brought out by the fact that in these experiments the materials were presented in a special form of programed textbook like this rather than in a machine instead of reading down the page as in an ordinary book the student reads just one frame at a time then he turns immediately to the next page verifies his answer then goes on to the next question and so on in a quite different approach developed by Norman Crowder more reading is required before the student responds Crowder's material is either presented in a complex type of machine such as this or in a special form of book in which the pages are arranged in scrambled order here the material is not programmed in such detailed small st steps rather the program is packaged in harder steps somewhat like this and the student answers a test question after reading each entire page in this Frame if he chooses the second answer which is incorrect he goes directly from page 1 to page 13 page 13 attempts to explain the basis for his error and then sends him back to page one to try again he now chooses the correct answer and turns to page seven on page seven after some further reading he is again asked a question and again the page to which he next proceeds will depend on which answer he selects when such materials are used in a machine the student selects his answer by pressing a button and the material he is to see next depending on the answer he has given is automatically presented to him on the screen in addition to application in general education programmed materials and teaching machines are also being utilized for military and vocational training here in teaching basic technical knowledge to specialists in air defense centers we employed a variety of response modes the student writes some of his responses selects others from a variety of Alternatives which are automatically scored and performs still others on a simulated mockup of the equipment that he is learning to use many other forms of devices are also being experimented with some of these for very young children present the material in audiovisual form using recorded instruction to which the child listens as successive visual frames are presented here at UCLA professors Evan Keesler and John mcneel have been experimenting with machines like this one teaching science to first grade children the child listens as the program gives a short explanation and then answers a question by choosing the right answer button similar machines are being used for giving on the job instruction in industry and military training the trainee is able to imitate each short step of a procedure as it is demonstrated on the screen accompanied by recorded oral directions thus he learns while he works that can also do useful work while he is learning experimentation is also proceeding here at UCLA and elsewhere with very complex devices that employ electronic computers to provide highly flexible programs responsive to the needs of the individual student to a high degree such instruments are primarily useful at present as research tools but their practical use will someday be feasible for the present however the concepts of programmed learning will probably be implemented in general education mostly by simple write-in machines and programmed materials in book form some of the implications of introducing such programmed materials into school systems will now be discussed by Professor Robert Glazer of the University of Pittsburgh Educators across the country are turning their attention to the recent research and development in programmed learning and are expressing increasing interest in the implications of this new technology what will be the impact of programmed learning upon our students upon teacher the changing role of the teacher upon educational Administration and organization upon teacher training and upon educational psychology in exploring these questions let's examine briefly some applications in a number of school systems certain subjects are being taught by programmed learning methods for example here students in the first grade are learning beginning number Concepts from an experimental form of a program textbook this specially trained teacher is observing the students so that she can revise and improve the program on the basis of student performance by himself and at his own pace the student looks at materials on a page responds to it and goes on to the next page and actively interacts with the subject material this boy happens to be working more slowly than the other students in this classroom students in the third grade are learning fractions using programmed materials in a teaching machine this student is about to finish a lesson in less time than it would have taken her with more conventional methods algebra statistics physics and foreign languages are other subject areas in which programmed learning is being conducted at secondary schools and universities programs in various subjects are or will soon be available for purchase from several commercial publishing organizations at the coordinated education center of the University of Pittsburgh we are conducting a study to analyze the impact of programmed learning upon an educational system let me presents programmed learning provides careful control and guidance of the conditions of learning as a consequence a number of hypotheses can be analyzed for example since programmed learning demands constant attention by the student it is reasonable to expect that the student will develop more careful habits of of concentration than he would in a more traditional classroom where the consequences of attention or inattention are not so immediate a second point is that the motivation of the learner is influenced by the immediate knowledge of her performance and by her successful achievement in the course of learning the successful Act of learning becomes rewarding and motivating in itself in programmed learning each student is able to proceed at his own individual and optimal learning rate this is an obvious advantage in meeting the needs of the individual student our early experiences indicate that below average students May attain Higher Achievement than with conventional methods and that gifted Learners will be able to proceed faster and cover more ground than before the fact that student skills and knowledge can be obtained in a shorter period of time using programmed learning techniques has important implications can elementary students complete their standard course objectives and be ready for secondary level objectives earlier can high school students be ready for college subjects at an earlier time the headlines in the recent surge of publicity on teaching machines and programmed learning could leave one that teaching machines will soon replace the human teacher this certainly is not true the real question is how the teacher will use programmed learning procedures and how their use might change the role of the teacher the use of sing methods by can permit many functions which classroom size and traditional teaching may not permit at the present time the teacher will be able to use the techniques more frequently she will have more time for inspiration and for the encouragement of creativity indeed the possibility of more F more time for these functions that only the teacher can perform and indeed needs to perform can bring a new dignity to the teaching profession educators will need to examine the changing role of the teacher at this time it is certain cly not wise to impose programmed learning techniques in full scale upon a school system what is required instead is practical try out so that educational administrators can use this initial information for making broadscale decisions about curriculum and administrative changes many questions arise how are these new techniques have to be adapted to exisal patterns what organizational changes will be necessitated by this new instructional method what is the appropriate balance of programmed instruction group instruction laboratory work Library work and other educational experiences with the increase in individualized instruction will the physical construction of school buildings change where will program curricula come from will we develop the teams of contents lists and experimental psychology just needed to produce increasingly effective programs will schools develop them themselves or will they be produced commercially as textbooks are these are a few of the important questions which educational planners will need to answer a most important consideration in programmed learning is that the results of its application need to be by colist laboratory for more detailed study in order to increase our knowled of the learning process the characteristics of this process can then be translated into a learning theory and teaching technology which can then be taught in our colleges of Education the present school system will undoubtedly be profoundly influenced by program teaching the changes which it will bring about will be interesting and exciting and they will occur as Educators determine the unique advantages and disadvantages of this new educational tool to help in this writings that represent the present state of knowledge in the field have been collected in a recent Source book by the National Education Association the important immediate task for the educator is to acquaint himself open-mindedly with the techniques and claims of programmed instruction and to investigate how and where these methods are used use ful the wise and imaginative use of teaching machines and programmed learning is a challenge and responsibility for all of us as Dr laser has said programmed instruction is a byproduct of psychological research the laboratory study of various kinds of learning and the parallel analysis of verbal Behavior have clarified certain conditions which make for Rapid learning in the teaching machines you have seen here represent early efforts to apply principles emerging from this research to the Practical problems of Education improved versions and other types of machines no doubt lie ahead especially as our knowledge continues to grow meanwhile economic and other practical considerations will have a powerful effect on what machines are used and how they will be used in a sense teaching machines may have been too successful for even simple machines and only fairly good programs are usually an improvement over conventional form true that such an arrangement makes possible an immediate knowledge of results and carries the student through a coherent program at his own rate but other advantages and possibilities cannot be realized without more complex equipment if the knowledge we have gained from our basic research together with what we will almost certainly learn in the future is to be thoroughly exploited flexible devices will be needed the kinds of instruction exemplified in this film have dealt with standard School subjects where the problem is mainly to build certain verbal repertoire other kinds of machines now being tested teach non-verbal abilities and skills it is not impossible that the school of the future will EMP emphasiz the explicit teaching of ways of thinking as well as subject matter various capacities and abilities which are now commonly accepted as part of the students innate endowment may be greatly extended one thing is certain the full potentialities of the human organism have not yet been realized Educators and psychologists alike face an exciting future in discovering ing what man can make of man me too [Applause] time