SCIENCE AND THE SCHOOL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 13 October 1925, Page 7

SCIENCE AND THE SCHOOL.

USE OF INVENTIONS,

KIN EM A AND GRAMOPHONE

Most educationists are conservatives. That is probably why the school is one of the; last vantage points, to hold out against the conquering: advance of science, says the ■.Melbourne Herald.

Now, however, the school is yielding; before the pressure of events' itself. Tt is beginning to open, its doors, to the gramophone, the radio, and the moving picture, as these inventions demonstrate beyond possibility of doubt the many uses they can be put to in the service of the teacher. in recent numbers of the Victorian Teachers’ Gazette there have appeared articles by a teacher who was long handicapped by the fact that he eon Id not sing a note, and had to face the singing lessons demanded by the curriculum with no equipment sa.ve. a. “C 3 tuning fork.” Now, with a machine and a supply of records, his troubles are over.

Ills story is interesting in more ways than one. lie tells how at first the gramophone was practically useless to him because the. records lie obtained were unsuitable. Finally he discovered the existence of records of genuine children’s songs, and then all went swimmingly. The moral is that only if definite efforts are made by recording firms to meet the- special needs of schools, can the instrument begin 1 to rise to the full utility of which it Is capable. And exactly the same thing applies to films and wireless. But the functions of the gramo phone do not stop short at tiding tonedeaf teachers oven a singing lesson. It can be used for lessons in musical appreciation. There is still another function —the, teaching of foreign languages, and this is especially important in the' Dominions, where the .supply of Frenchmen or Germans is small and where the “Froggy” or “Fritz’’ of the typical .English school story is conspicuous by his absence. Records of the type needed, for this work must be. especially prepared. Some do exist, but they are not easily obtainable, and more are needed. Mr Frank Tate. Victoria’s Director of Education, believes that, even in elementary schools the gramophone has its part to play in the teaching of a language —English. Not every teacher, he believes, has a. trained and discriminating ear. and it is a most desirable thing to have an audible standard of speech to counter-act any tendency towards slack or careless pronounciation.

.In the case of the kinenia, the difficulties which at present have to be faced are even greater, but here, too, there is no doubt that the moving picture has a vitally important future before it. once the supply of genuinely educational films is assured. At a conference of teachers in London ji feiw years ago, a sharp line was drawn, between so-called “educational” pictures and those which are really suitable for use in school. The former may convey information and enlarge the child's mine’ll in. many directions, but it does not therefore, follow—so the conference maintained —that its true place is in the school curriculum. What is needed, it is claimed, is; not to adapt the curriculum to the. film, but to fit the film to the curriculum, so that in his ‘history or geography lessons the teacher can profitably use it as part of his organised programme of work, instead: of interrupting the work of the school in order to provide what may be- nothing more than an opportunity for unrefleeti ve sereeugazing.

The Victorian Council of Public Education lias conducted very long and careful inquiries into the problem: of the. kinenia and the school, and lias reached conclusions in agreement with those outlined above. It has, however, discovered the existence in Australia of some, 500 films which it judges suitable for use in school, though not ideally fit for that end. It will shortly recommend to the Minister of Education the expenditure of ’a substantial sum in the purchase of machines for school use.

Furthelinore, a. school inspector has been collaborating' with a. kinenia producer in making a “genuine” educational film, -showing every aspect of the growth and action of rivers. It is along such a line—collaboration between educational experts and skilled producers—that real progress is to be hoped for, if anything more than spasmodic find occasional use is to be made of the motion picture in the scliolo*.

The radio has obvious uses for the broadcasting of special lectures to secondary schools, but Victorian officials are doubtful of its valnc in elementary school work, where it is particularly necessary to avoid “talking at” the children or lecturing them, and. where a skilled teacher will assist liis l pupils better by drawing out than bv putting in. A further practical difficulty ap pears to l>e that in the country schools, where eight, grades are often grouped in one; room, it would be impossible to broadcast matter that would be suitable for more than a third a.t most of those who would hear it.

However, there; is another side to this cautious official view. It should be easy in time to arrange a children’s programme for one afternoon weekly’ and to broadcast it all over the State. The loud speaker 'caw*never displace the teacher, or relieve .him front the great bulk of his duties. But it can be employed to diversify and colour the life of the school in a way that is none the; less educational for being outside normal routine.