The diamond drill., 1919-04-05
THE PICTURE IN EDUCATION.
The Latest Thing In Educational
Work In MastOdon Schools.

is the latest thing in educational
work in geography, history and liter
ature.
The Picture in Education" by
Everett l.. Gretecheil, submaster OF
the George Putnam School, Boston.
Mass, reprinted from the Journal of
Education. explains this new idea The
article follows:
Pictures are coming to play a more
and more important part in the edu-
cation of the child OF today.
Long experience has proven that the
child learns most quickly such sub
jects as are classified under the gen
eral term OF geography first. by see
ing the actual places. people or in
dustries; second, by seeing an accur-
ate representation OF them by means
OF stereographs, or prints; third, by
hearing a vivid oral description; and
that what he CLEANS from the printed
page comes last In educational value
| Wide-awake teachers are turning
more and more to the projection Ian
tern and the streoscope when they
wish to teach quickly, accurately, and
school buildings are being equipped
with stereopticons and sets OF stereo-
graphs. the grade teacher supple
rhenting these with carefully selected
| photographs, post cards, and prints.
Nearly all the Boston schools are
! now furnished with lantern and a
more or less complete selection OF
slides. Last fall we secured for the
George Putnam school the Keystone
900 set" of stereographs and the
lantern slides of the Keystone View
Company and put them to systematic
class use. Because OF it's fine classi-
iication and cross-cataloguing system
this set is as valuable as a thousand
slides chosen at random. The stere-
ographs correspond TO the lantern
slides and bear the same numbers.
Both slides and stereographs were
placed where they were easy OF ac-
cess to every teacher, and a copy OF
the splendidly classified Teachers
Guide" placed on each teachers desk.
In this way the slides and steros were
always ready for instant use. The
back OF each stereograph contains the
reading matter used as nucleus
around which to build the work.
Our mode of procedure is as fol-
lows: First we have the pupil thor
oughly study the stereograph. The
sense OF perspective which the com
bined views of a streograph give
when looked at through a stere-
oscope lends an impression of realty
which stays with the pupil and keeps
the visual impression with him much
longer than does fat picture. We
have the pupil thoroughly study the
stereoscope and saturate himself with
all its details before he does any
reading at all. The absolute accur-
acy OF the streograph makes such
visual impressions the ground work
in which we are going to build our
lesson, foundation of truth which
we cannot get from mental impress
sions. merely stimulated from
printed page or received by word OF
mouth.
After the details OF the picture have
been thoroughly mastered through
the streoscope, the reading matter on
! the back OF one of the streos is resort
ed to, and after 1t has been thoroughly
studied, the picture is again careful
ly looked at through the streoscope
Often supplementary reading mat
ter, or a talk by the teacher, helps
the pupil to round out his assignment.
The references are taken from the
school library, from supplementary
books such as Carpenters and Kings
Geographical Readers, and the in
formation given in the text book was
made use Of. In this way the pupil
realizes, without being told, that the
textbook does not by any means con
tain all the information there is on
the subject
When recitation period COMES (our
lantern Is always operated by the
pupils themselves) each member OF
the class Is prepared to talk about one
slide He stands beside the screen.
facing the rest OF the class, with the
one who is to recite next on the other
side OF the curtain; when his view
appears Is tells his classmates what
ever OF interest or value he has learn
ed about Il, and when he has finished
and he Is taking his scat another pu-
I..Nn