The Washington times., 1915-04-06
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
Teachers Study the
Interest Of the
Children in
-.
Films

An unusual system of studying the
effect of motion pictures on chill
dren is being put into service In
teachers of one of the public
schools. The investigation Is to de-
termine exactly how every film play
seen by the children Is viewed by the
children.
This Is the first time that any
stud ed effort has been made In this
direction, and the results should prove
of. value. Here in Washington one
teacher made a brief investigator
about a year ago which gave her
q new idea of the. value OF the MN,
There is general disposition on
the part of school teachers and oth-
ers having to do with the daily
work or effort of children to com
plain of the interest the children
show in motion pictures. rms Is
largely because they think that the
child is giving more attention to the
pictures than to the serious Things
they are attempting to teach.
The lesson the Washington teacher
learned was that the children are
really learning more from some or
the films than they are In schools
regarding the same subjects-the
reason being that the hlms present
the subjects in a most interest ng
way. while in school the methods OF
teaching are not as interesting as
they are thorough. The teacher
learned that the value of thing
to the child does not appeal to the
child unless there Is some interest
there also, and that many of the
valuable things that are taught In
the schools are not taught in such
a way as to be interest ng.
The Investigation that is being
made in Cincinnati will bring out
many interesting things, according
to the correspondent of the MoVinS
Picture World. who has investigated
the matter. This investigator states:
"While the high educational value
of films Of certain kinds. designed
especially with reference to their IN
structve possibilities, Is generally
admitted by school and church au.
thorities, there has been some doubt
as to the effect upon the minds of
children of the ordinary run OF
films, such as are shown at the aver
age picture show and 1t Is for the
purpose of obtaining some accurate
data on this point that an experiment
of considerable interest is being con-
Quoted by the principal and teachers
of the Vine street school in Cincin-
natl;
Every morning each teacher as
certains from the children which OF
them attended picture show the
evening before, and record is made
of this information. which is com
pared with the work done by the
children during the day. 1t has
been found that nearly so per cent
of the children attend the picture
shows, and as the city school author
tiles are encouraging the investiga-
ton: there is no doubt that the
studies of the children are effected
by their attendance upon moving
picture shows said Superintendent
Condor, in this connection.
Pictures Of the right kind are
stimulating, while others are harm
full. Some plan must be worked out
for taking advantage of the chill
dren's interest in pictures to have
them see only the right kind, and
the cooperation of the owners and
managers Of the theaters will, Of
course. have to be secured for this
purpose.
'"Such records will have very little
real value. If child ate too much Ice
cream after the show 1t might be bill.
ious and sleepy next day. Many
other considerations enter into the
effect of any one picture on child 8
mind. There are manv kinds of food
and many kinds of pictures