FILMS IN EDUCATION.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 January 1935, Page 4

FILMS IN EDUCATION.

The promise of the film tor school use is very groat. Thomas A. Edison, who had a leading role in developing the motion pictures, at one time expected them to replace textbooks almost entirely. No one expects that now. They will, however, bring a gigantic advance in visual education, which in one way or another has been a part of schooling for many years——in fact, ever since Professor John Amos Comenius of Prague was able to convince other teachers that “seeing is believing,” even when applied to education. Since then school classes have been marched into museums, where their teachers point out stuffed birds, agricultural implements of the ancients, fragments of pollery and other tangible evidences of that which the children previously had been asked to accept on faith. The books had said so-and-so, but here they saw the real

things! Charts were hung upon class-room walls, and portable displays of wheat, rubber, cotton and other products were passed about in the classrooms until they became tattered and torn. Students have been conducted through soap factories, dairies, newspaper offices and other industrial and commercial establishments so that they might see the' wheels go around. Not satisfied with these advances, teachers have taken groups of children on long journeys by rail, bus, and boat so that they might see for themselves the places, the things, and even the persons studied about in geography, history, civics, and other subjects. Some things must be demonstrated, for words are not adequate. The Chinese knew this, and they said long ago that “one picture is worth 10,000 words.” That explains why films are certain to take an increasingly important part in education. Geography. with film instruction, becomes imquxrLmt and real. History ceases'-to-be a thing of dates and of unfamiliar persons aiid places, because every student can be transported on the magic carpet of the cinema, and permitted to see and hear the events which are recorded in the history books. Not only the supermen the Washingtons and Cromwells and Bismarcks—appear in the films, but —unlike the textbooks —their compatriots also appear, and in the proper settings. The student gets a background, for the crowds in the streets must be there, the environment and the atmosphere of the period must be recaptured. Through the agency of the film, the cold type of the textbook may become warm, as it suggests real personalities and not merely records of names or events. The teacher, instead of spending hours at the routine task of “marking papers,” assigning tasks, and coaching pupils who do not show what is deemed proper enthusiasm. may find that—with the help of intelligently made films—he has become the guide, counsellor. friend, and confidant of a group of receptive children, among whom even the most backward is at least interested. Evidence that this is not just an imaginary condition rests in the attitudes of pupils where films actually have been used.