Evening star., 1929-12-01
VISUAL learning
REPLACES WORDS"
Scene in Modern Classroom
DesCribed-PupiIS Become
Teachers" of Mates.
BY EDWIN H. REEDER,

.
If visual education be defined as
learning through the medium of the
eve, then any classroom should show
by its very appearance and equipment
whether such work is prominent in the
learning activities of the children. To
get some idea as to how the modern
teacher uses the visual appeal in her
work. let us visit a class in geography
which is making study of China.
AS We enter the room we are i'm
mediately impressed with its Oriental
atmosphere. Several borrowed Chinese
kimonaS hang from the walls in one
corner; a neat card pinned to each
contains some child'S comment on the
embroidery or silk of which it is made
In another corner on a table are some
little wooden figures made in China
and borrowed from the local school
museum. Here Is sedan chair with
its occupant and bearers; a 'rickshaw:
q tiny Chinese home, and two men
laborlously saving planks by hand.
Invited by Pictures.
On this same table are three or four
Stereoscopes, each with a picture in
it inviting the children to study it. One
picture chows an extensive view of the
Great Wall of China stretching across
Another portrayS a street scene in
Shanghai, and still another the Chinese
method of raising water for irrigation
through the use of a treadmill. Study
of these stereographS is not a formaliZed
affair. During any study period the
children are free to pass as much time
with them as they wish.
In another corner is the sand table,
Here the children have represented in
moist sand a valley in Central China,
where terrace agriculture is carried on.
The slopes of the valley have their tiny
terraces, where twigS represent tea
plants. Down in the valley are paddy
fields for rice growing, and here the
green of quickly sprouting oats pro-
duces a verisimilitude which has pleased
the children immensely. A cardboard
laborer and water buffalo cultivating
the field have been made by the chill
dren themselves.
Children Make Own Graphs.
OF course, numerous maps hang
around the walls. There are physical
map, a rainfall map, a vegetation map
and a population map. Several pic
torial maps, drawn and colored by the
children themselves, also are shown.
On an easel at one side of the room is
q partly finished picture. Its details
are distinctly sketched, but one can see
that eventually it will represent scene
on the Yangtze River, with houseboats
and Chinese junks.
So far we have been absorbed in the
more spectacular features of the meth
DDS of visual appeal in the modern
school, We now have leisure to ex-
anime some other details of its use.
Pinned to the cork molding above the
blackboard are a number OF graphs
made by the children, showing COM
parsons between China and other ma
tons in such PARTICULARS as population,
size and the production of silk, rice,
tea and cotton.
Descriptive Articles.
The bulletin board next claims our
attention. On it are pictures from
magazines and newspapers, each ac-
companied by a descriptive article,
some in print and others written by
the children. There is rather large
chart, headed Our Movie on China
What It Made Us Want to Know" "
Under this caption are listed some
Is questions about China.
The teacher notes our interest in this
chart and hastens to explain:
'You see, the great trouble with mo-
ton pictures Is that during them the
children are likely to be entirely passive
mentally. But learning is an active
process, and my big problem with NOV
les has been to make children think
while they are looking at the pictures.
So hit on the following plan:
"I have the children prepare two
sheets of paper before they 90 into
the auditorium for the films. On one
sheet they write I didn't know that,
and on the other they write I wonder
hOr y11vrS Ho iF7Ngf TKyoo nat
back to the classroom they fill out these
sheets. knowing thatthey are TO do
this, their minds are active every min
ute Of the showing.
Films Stimulate Children.
'"That chart is a compilation made
by q committee of the children of the
I wonder how or why's of the whole
class. You will see that some Of them
answered, and we shall answer others
today.
"You see, I don't believe that the
motion picture can really teach very
many facts; it passes too rapidly across
the screen. But children love It, and
it makes about the most satisfactory
method Of stimulating children to want
to know things that have ever used. -
When the class is called to attention,
the teacher asks what committee IS
ready to report. A boy rises and says,
"Our committee was working on the
question of the preparation of rice for
the market You remember the movie
showed only how rice is cultivated and
harvested. Many of the class wondered
how the rice is made ready for market.
so our committee studied the question
and then asked the librarian In OIL
school whether she had some slides
showing the process. She had four and
we have them here"
Committee in Action.
As he finishes speaking, two boys step
unobtruSively to the windows and lower
the shades. A member of the COM
mittee takes her place at the stereop-
tieon in the back of the room; the
chairman pulls down the screen. In
less time than it takes to tell about
there is a picture on the screen. ZACH
member of the committee discusses one
slide while the children in their seats
ask questions and make comments.
The whole trend of modern education
has been away from the old school oi
word learning toward school of doing
thinking and experiencing. The EN-.
phaSis today Is not on the memorial
ton Of verbal formulas, but on the ac-
QUESTION, through interesting expert
ences, of ideas. generalizations and con-
cepts. We are not SO interested today
for example. in knowing whether &
child can give correctly the boundarie:
of Switzerland as we are in knowing
whether he has some vivid and accurate
conceptions of how Switzerland look:
and how the people live and work.
Visual Materials Necessary.
Toward any such aims as these tht
use of visual materials is a necessity
II is obvious that We cannot take thu
children in the flesh to all the coun'
tries of the globe; that we cannot turr
back the clock so that they may livt
with the feudal barons of the Middle
Ages or with the pioneers of our West
ern plains. An approximation OF thesl