SCIENCE AND SCHOOLS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1688, 19 November 1925, Page 5

SCIENCE AND SCHOOLS

GRAMAPHONE, CINEMA AND WIRELESS. WHAT THEY CAN DO. (Contributed.) Most educationists are conservatives. They probably have to be, for theirs is not a field at a'll suited for rash experimentation. That is probably why the-school is one of the last vantage points to hold outagainst the conquering advance of science. Now, however, the school is yielding be-fore the pressure of events itself. It is beginning to open its doors to the gramaphone, the radio, and the moving nicture, as these inventions demonstrate beyond possibility of doubt the ma'ny uses they can he put to in the service of the teacher. Note that phrase, "in the service of the teacher." The educational world has 'decided that if science is to enter the schol it must conform to the methods and standards of the school. Heady enthusiasts have often suggesed in recent years that the teacher can now hand over his functions to the motion camera, the record, the loud speaker. But the teachers themselves think otherwise. "Admirable adjuncts and aids these things may be," they say, "but aids and adjuncts they must •remain, and teaching must continue to be based upon the perscnal contact of instructor and pupil." Once this is granted, however, the educationalist is prepared to grow enthusiastic over the possibilities of the new products of human knowledge. In particular they look with confidence to the growing use of the gramaphone. In recent numbers of the Victorian Teachers' Gazette there have appeared artie es by a teacher who was long handicapped by the fact that he could not sing a note, and had to face the singing lessons demanded by the curriculum with no equipment save a "C 3 tuning fork." Now, with a machine and a supply of records, his troubles are over. His story is interesting in more ways than one. He tel'is how at first the gramaphone was practically useless to him because the records he obtained were unsuitable. FinaLy 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 specia needs of schools, can the instrument begin to rise to the full Utility of which it is capable. And exactly the same thing applies to films and wireBut the functions of the gramaphone do not stop short at tiding tone-deaf teachers over a singing lesson It can be used for lessons in musical appreciation. Already there exists a fine Eerie , of records prepared for the Welsh Council of Musical Education by a man of extraordinary gifts in the uoublo field of music and Walford Davies. It was said'that the coming of popular education killed music in Wales H ■*« was true the coming of Walford Davies has brought it to life agam-and in the main the gramaphone has been his tool and messenger. 'There is still another function-the teachling bf Soreigr- languages, and this is especially important in ,- v -raa, where the supply of Frenchmen or Germans is small, and where tie "Froggy" or "Frit-" of the typical English school story is conspicuous by his absence. Records of the type needed for this work must b<y 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 m elementary schools the gramaphone 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 audib-e standard of speech to counteract any tendency towards slack pr caieless pronunciation. In the case of the cinema, 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, some few vears ago, a sharp line was drawn between so-ca'lled "educational" pictures and those which are really suitable for use in school. The former may convey information and enlarge the child's mind in many directions, but it does not therefore follow—so the 'conference maintained—that its true place is in tne 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 le-sons 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 tnan an opportunity for unreflcctive screcnga'rheS*Victorian Council of Public Education has conducted very long and careM inouiries into the problem of the cinema" and the school, and has reached conclusions n 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 tho Minister for Education the expenditure ot a substantial sum in the purchase ot machines for school use. Seeing that the New Zealand Government engaged Mr Frank Tate, Director of Education in Victoria, to come to the Dominion and report on the education here, perhaps our education authorities will be able, or at 'leapt willing, to follow the lead given in Victoria under Mr Tate's wise direction. Furthermore, a Victorian inspector has been collaborating with a cinema 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 and occasional use is to be made of the motion picture in the schools. The Radio has obvious uses for the broadcasting of special lectures to sec-

ondary schoo'ls, but Victorian officials are doubtful of its value 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 his pupils better by drawing out than by putting in A further practical difficulty appears to be in the country schoolswhere eight grades are often grouped in one room, it would be impossible tobroadcast matter that would be suitable for more than a third at most of those who wou'ld hear it. However, there is another side to this cautious official view. There will doubtless in the future be many concerts in the large towns which are particularly suitable for children. 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 can never displace the teacher, or relieve Mm from the great bulk of his duties. But it can be employed to diversify and colour the life Ol the school,in a way that is none the less educational for being outside normal routine: v