lights are dimmed the projector is running the classroom has become a setting for use of a very effective teaching tool but classroom film yet but these young people learn and how well they learn it rests largely with how the film is you just it doesn't work we've constructed any electric motor from a few simple materials let's review what happens by looking at a diagram here is the permanent magnet like all magnets it has a when current starts to flow the coil becomes an electromagnet with north and south poles these poles of the electromagnet are attracted by the poles of the permanent magnet and the block of iron t if we reverse the direction of the current in the coil by changing the dry cell connections the north and south poles in our electromagnet reverse this puts two north post together and two south poles together since like poles repel each other the electromagnet rotates until opposite poles are attracted to one another if we add the automatic switch to our diagram it looks like this now if the wires are connected to the drysdale the motor will continue to rotate in for a science class concerned with how an electric motor works classroom film has illustrated a complex process in simple understandable terms the film as is often true has proved itself an effective and valuable teaching aid this is particularly true when the film has been carefully selected for content and when the students have been correctly prepared for viewing both ilm activities which follow the film are also important activities such as a post film discussion no discussion of content is as much a part of using a film as the actual showing up it for a film however good it may be is still only a teaching tool and depends for its greatest effectiveness on how it is used by the teacher of a film begins days perhaps even weeks prior to the showing when the teacher selects the film the director of her local instructional materials center can often provide helpful advice about which of several films in the same subject area will best the teacher's purpose of course one may have to rely on the resume and a catalogue to determine a film's content as well as its running time and the grade level for which it was intended the important thing at this point is that selection is not  hit or miss affair but key to a lesson plan and made on the basis of the best information available about a film the next step you as the teacher take in using a film is to become familiar with it yourself if the film is available to you for only a short time you may have to limit your own preparation to studying the teacher guide for the film if it is available here you will find usually a more complete description of the film's content than is possible in a catalog file along with the questions you may want to ask following the showing of the film comments from previous years of a particular film if they are available are also helpful and ideal way to study a film and prepare to use it with your classes to preview it with pencil in hand taking notes as the film progresses it can be a real help to have one or more of your students in the preview room with you as they watch from a viewpoint which is different from yours they will detect new or unusual words or situations which may require explanation before the film is shown to the group they may also reveal interests the teacher may use to motivate the entire class well a word may be defined beforehand you'll recall that yesterday we talked about the problems of settling this large area of our country known as the great plains today we're going to see a film that shows us those problems very clearly of course when the great pains were being settled in the eight hundred fifty thousand eight hundred sixty eight the movie camera had not yet been invented so in this film we get this story as we look at famous paintings and drawings made by artists who were there at the time now candy do you recall the problem about the planes area that we discussed yesterday well there was constant fighting between ranchers and farmers over these of land so neither then could become really prosperous and we decided that this situation kept many people away who might otherwise have come and help to settle the great plains be a very good summary cathy now in this film we're going to learn about some other problems that face these people what they finally did about them afterwards i want you to be able to identify and discuss the problem and to describe how the eventual solution of these problems affected our country some resisted the changes on the plains brought about by barbed wire fence the border of forcing others some fence cutters but the bark of six shooters diminished laws were passed to protect both sides and in time barbwire turned out to be a blessing to the cattlemen to build their industry on the native texas longhorns mean ornery critter as tough on the table as he was on the range with barbed wire fencing the cattlemen could separate their herd introduced blooded stock and supply the demand for better be soon the great plains became a new land a real road the coal revolver the artesian well the windmill new ways of farming dry land and of course barbed wire and enabled our country to settle a vast interior to turn what was once the great american desert in the rich fertile farmland think it might be interesting to find out why there was no way to vailable in the great plains area this would take some research so karen you betty carmen allen prepare a report on it we are going to spend some time reporting on another aspect of this barb you team up with george s c elaine and frank on that question there are many ways to conduct post film activities profitably the objective should always be to use the film as a springboard to learning understanding and creating assigning a research project on a topic related to the film will help the student to form relations of ideas concepts and facts and thereby provide creative learning experiences  and a review of effective use of classroom films we should not overlook the importance of physical details for example proper arrangements for seating lighting ventilation and placement of the equipment also if you plan to run the film yourself check ahead of time to make sure you are familiar with the projector and its operation how to thread it and how to operate the controls where these details are handled by a student projectionist it is still important for you to make sure that these arrangements are made beforehand all these physical details may contribute or detract from the showing and hence they are relevant to the creative use you make  a film as a teaching tool remember also that since using a film is part of a creative process the steps you take reflect your own creative ability the first point at which you put your creativity to work is in the selection of the film choosing it for your purposes on the basis of your evaluation of it for the effectiveness with your students the second point is the key to all the steps following it your own preparation for showing the film this is the point where you decide whether you will show the film all at one sitting or use only an excerpt which applies to the particular topic being studied it is the point at which you make final plans for how to use this teaching tool at the third point class motivation you develop a readiness for viewing the film this may be a simple procedure of telling your students the title of the film why they are seeing it and some idea of what they are expected to learn from it or it may be as elaborate as using other teaching techniques over several periods leading up to the showing point for the showing of the film when the creative process is seemingly out of your hands still reflects your guiding role particularly if you decide to repeat the showing of the film or a shot of the projector at a certain spot for a pre determined reason at point five the creative teaching aspect comes into foreplay for student participation includes all the follow up activities which round out your purpose in using the film discussion testing for content research work report writing problem solving and they are all of these post film activities plus many many more that you will think of are your contribution and it is your contribution which is the single most important factor in using a classroom