Modern Educational Experiments VI
The Use of Films in the Education of Backward Boys Readers will remember that in our last issue, reference was made to some interesting experimental work with Films which zvas being carried on with “Opportunity” Pupils in the Spurlcy Hey Central School, Rotherham. The following account of the work has been sent to us by Mr. W. IV. Barber, M.R.S.T., by kind permission? of the Head Master, Mr. Ernest Healey.
A twelve month trial of the film for the education of our backward pupils at Spurley Hey Central School has taught us that we have a very useful ally in this newer form of visual education.
Realising that the backward pupil needs particularly stimulating treatment, that he needs to have his interests strongly aroused, that his weaker powers of imagination and inability to follow verbal instruction need supplementation, we decided to give the cinema a trial. We have been amply repaid in the increased range and interest of the pupil, in the reality which has been introduced into the History, Geography and Science lessons and the better understanding of the world around him which comes to the child whose opportunities have been more than ordinarily restricted.
On the grounds of expense and cost of hire of films and also on the ground that we wished to supply the commentary, we turned down the “talkie” apparatus and bought a good 750 watt silent projector with reverse and still devices and this has proved to be the ideal machine for our purpose. The silent film is likely to remain of great value in spite of the development of the talkie for it is not possible to talk the same language to the ” A ” stream and the ” E” stream without running the risk of boring the one and talking over the head of the other. Moreover an instruction needs to be repeated several times perhaps before it will sink in the mind of the ” E ” boy. The ” still ” and ” reverse ” devices of the silent machine make it possible to hold up or repeat the critical parts of the film.
There is a plentiful supply of good films available, often for the small consideration of paying carriage both ways with no hiring fee. In recent months, however, the increasing use of films in schools, the consequent increase in demand for these films and possibly the block booking system in large cities, have restricted the supply making it necessary to book several months in advance.
The method of treatment adopted is to select a film which can be adapted to the scheme of work of a particular form or group of forms, to give a preliminary description of the purport and content of the film before the actual show, (whenever possible the master sees a preview of the film) and to advise the pupils what to look out for. A running commentary is supplied by the teaching concerned with the particular film and a pointer is used to draw attention to fleeting incidents or to focus their attention to the part of the visual field which matters. During the changing of the reels the film may be discussed again.
The whole aim of the lesson is to give reality to book and classroom studies. It is necessary that active critical observation should be trained from the start or the film is merely recreational and not educational, but this training in active observation is not the principal aim of the cinema lesson, though we have evidence to show that the boys’ appreciation and enjoyment of the ordinary cinema have been enhanced by this training of their powers of observation and critical appreciation. But even more have we noticed that our children develop a taste for the ” Travel” and “Interest” film in the commercial cinema. It is no longer received with a groan as a cheap device for filling up the programme but is accepted as representing matter of inherent interest.
The main purpose of the film in school however, is to provide information and to put the child in touch with reality?with real objects, processes, and places? the conception of which can only be made part of his mental equipment through this realistic concrete presentation of the moving picture. Another teaching value of the film is that a cinema picture may be repeated after a lapse of perhaps three months and this gives the teacher an opportunity of estimating progress in assimilating the course, and at the same time it is a form of revision.
The apparent improvement in those subjects in which we have made use of the cinema may not be altogether due to this new teaching aid. The fact that the average examination marks in Geography, have shown a rise of 17.6 per cent, between the lowest retarded group of 1936 and a similar group in 1937 may of course be the result of an improvement in the calibre of the material (though we have no evidence to that effect) or of improvements in teaching technique. There is plenty of opportunity for exact research into the correct weighting of the cinema factor as contributing to such educational progress, but that it does play some part there is little doubt.
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