The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-26
Frederick Haskin's Letter
Especial Correspondence OF
The Picture VS.. the Book.
Especial Correspondents

of the non-theatrical picture is put
ting AmericaniZation into homes in
language that even an illiterate
immigrant can understand.
Science Taught by Film.
"You can teach all sorts Of scien-
tific facts by films which you can't
with books. because people wont
take the trouble to read them
Health boards, for instance, can
put their lessons across in pictures
as they can in no other way. We
have one picture called unlocking
the Hookworm' which is unknown
to the theatre going public, but Is in
great demand by the international
health board for use in all the
southern states.
"A motion picture has been made
of every major operation. We have
films showing miscoscopic organ
isms and demonstrating physiologi-
cal processes. as, for example, the
circulation of blood. Then, of
course, they have it all over text
books in teaching chemistry, biol
ogy and other scientific subjects in
the schools"
The producer handed US his au-
thority for this last statement-an
article by H. G. Wells, in which he
says:
Il ask for half a dozen projectors
or so in every school and for a well
stocked storehouse of films. The
possibilities of certain branches of
teaching have been altogether reYo-
luuoniZed by the cinematograph.
in nearly every school nowadays
you Will find a lot of more or less
worn and damaged scientific appa-
ratus which is supposed to be used
for demonstrating the elementary
facts of chemistry, physics and the
like
"Now that is the sort of thing
which still goes on. But it ought to
be entirely out of date. All that
scientific bric-a-brac in the cup
board had far better be thrown
away. All the demonstration ex-
periments that science teachers will
require in the future can be per-
formed once for all-before a cine
matograph. They can be done fin
ally ;they need never be done again.
You can get the best and most dax-
ferrous teacher in the world-he can
do what has been done with the
best apparatus in the best light;
anything that is very minute or
subtle you can magnify or repeat
from another point of view; any
thing that is intricate you can
record with extreme slowness; you
can show the facts a mile of or six
inches off-and all that your actual
class teacher need do now IN to
spend five minutes in getting out
the film he wants, 10 minutes in
reading over the corresponding lee
ture notes, and then he can run the
film, give the lessons, question his
class upon it, note what they miss
and how they take it, run the film
again for a second scrutiny, and get
out for the subsequent study Of the
class the ample supply of diagrams
and pictures needed to fix the les
son. Can there be any comparison
between the educational efficiency
of the two methodist"
Mr. Wells seems to doubt it
Nevertheless, such a comparison
was recently made in a Detroit
school under the DIRECTION of J. Il
Wilson, supervisor of visual educa-
ton. with gratifying results. The
subject chosen for the experiment
was an educational fin explaining
How We Hear" The children
were separated into two groups,
one of which was to see the film,
and the other of which was to re-
ceiYe an oral lesson in the same
facts.
The film was shown twice to the
visual class in the astOnishingIy
short space of Is minutes The
oral lesson required 55 minutes,
the teacher taking great pains TO
impress upon her pupils the same
information contained in the film.
At the close of the lesson the two
separate classes were given writ
ten examination on the subject
Then the papers were collected ard
marked without respect to the type
of lesson by the same teacher. Tie
average grade attained by the visual
group in the first test was GAG per
cent as compared with SIS per cent
made by the oral group--that is to
say, the visual gain was $50 per
cent
\ month later, a second or mem
DRY test was given on the same sub
ject, and this time the visual group
averaged 639 per cent-a gain OF
Al per cent over the 59.5 per cent
average made by the oral pupils.
While the percentage of gain in
this experiment might have been
even greater if the subject chosen
had been How We See" instead Of
How We Hear" it is large enough
to be well worth while, especially
when the saving of time IS cOnsid-
cred.