Evening star., 1937-09-19
Influence of, Films in
Schools is Broadening
Sound, Silent and Still
Pictures Are Used in Visual
Education in Washington.

maintenance of old ones. Since q
silent protector costs s100 and each
reel of film about s24, visual instruc-
ton is rather an expensive process.
However, declares Miss Dyer, ''it
is no longer question whether we
can afford to buy motion pictures fer
the schools. Instead. the question is,
Can we afford to econon1ize in this
direction?'"
There are in the white schools Oh
the District today "a silent and IS
sound motion-picture projectors. The
colored schools have about the same
number in proportion to the number
of students. AS all the films in the
visual education library are silent. the
schools using sound projectors must
rent their films individually at a cost
OF about IS reel.
There are about 20 private COM
panies from which films are secured
for the. Washington schools. East
man Kodak is one of the most i'm
portant sources of silent films. Sound
pictures are rented mainly from the
Erpi Picture Consultants. The Yale
University Press has produced 100000
worth of films on historical subjects.
University and the Metro
politan Museum of Art are also large
scale producers of educational films.
The Department of Agriculture is the
chief governmental source of motion
pictures. Barner Bros. have shown
particular cooperation with educators
by making their short subject avail
able to the schools at low rates six
after their release The
schools owning sound projectors are
using many of the travelogues made
by this company.
INDIVIDUAL teachers in Washing
ton have made films OF activities in
heir class rooms which are being used
in parentteacher groups to acquaint
parents with the methods being used
by the educators.
In addition to the motion picture
films. there are in the visual educa-
ton library 10000 glass slides and
all the Washington schools are equip
ped with projectors for still pictures.
Miss Dyer has great confidence in the
of the lantern slides.
I'VE feel very strongly" she as
serted, that still pictures have
vital place in education. The sound
picture will never supplant the silent.
nor the motion picture the still"
Stereoscopes are also being used for
individual study in the schools. Even
geometry has been simplifed by the
use of stereoscoped pictures.
The major possibilities of visual in
struction are far from exhausted, how
ever, according to Cline M. Koon,
United States Office of Education Spe-
cialist in Visual Education.
While science, history and geog-
raphy are the only major subjects in
which Washington schools are using
films today" DR.. Koon pointed out.
there are many other fields in which
teaching could be much aided by mo-
tion pictures. Some schools cannot
have the benefit of the best instructors
in a subject, but every school might
have films showing an instructor at
work. Both students and teachers
might learn from this"
nR. KOON described a film which
he had seen recently in London
in which the best method of teaching
French was demonstrated.
Learning a foreign language" he
continued, would be much simplified
if sound films brought to the students
ears the correct pronunciation as used
by the natives, while he viewed pic
lures of the country, its people and its
customs. A child could soon become
familiar with the great literature of
the world if the plots were brought to
him on the screen. There is, in fact.
no subject in which interest cannot be
quNkened and learning made easier by
the use of motion pictures"
To the old Chinese proverb which
holds that a picture is worth a thou
sand words, DR. Koon would add. "and
a moving picture is worth thousand
lectures The school of the future,
If his predictions are correct, will
greatly resemble a theater in function.
with every teacher doubling as cam
eraman and protector operator.
The first natural gas discovered in