The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-08-21
BEGINNING PROJECT EXPERIENCE
OF SOCIAL WORK LABORATORY

training III JOuIudlisIu. Sue was dp
pointed to prepare publicity plal
for the entire project-news stories
properly timed, poster, radio an
nouncements, etc. Again, superficial
work was the first result. The groul
demanded more thorough work an(
even helped to improve publicity
When the distribution of the question
naire was launched, the publicity was
geared into the sequence of action
The Lab had to time activity very
carefully in order to secure it's hoped
for results.
Students See Results of Work
The return Of the filled-out ques
tionnaires was observed carefully
People were urged to give their
names and addresses. Questionnaires
came in like flood. Slightly more
than a 40% return was eventually
achieved. AS soon as they were re-
ceived, tabulation was begun. Adult
education and recreation needs and
interests of specific people we're tabu-
lated. The Missoula Recreation de-
partment wished to provide classes
and activities as desired by individ-
uals Finally the official returns
were released in the newspaper Aft
Ell little delay about finding suitable
quarters for the classes to be held,
the Missoula Opportunity School pro-
gram was begun. The Lab members
saw actual community results from
their labors. Besides, they expert
enced the many problems Of the prof
ect together matter which demon
strated the value of group thinking
and action Another result was the
set of accumulated records of the
project. Later, these served as the
basis for writing up a study of the
entire project which included a dis
cussion of the problems which had
to be faced, how they were met, and
the results achieved It was hoped
that the study would show the re-
search value of student activity prof.
ects and might be used as text mate
rial for teaching purposes as we'll.
Students Learn To Make
Group Decisions
This first project Melted the Lab
several things besides the experience
gained and the results obtained. 1t
taught us self-reliance At first, stu
dents wanted to be told what to do
and how to do it. We simply threw
the problems back to the individuals
and the group. In short order, they
learned that it paid to use the group
was not only cheap, it was
fun. Shy students soon learned they
were losing more by keeping still |
than by participating. They obtained |
better answers to problems by partic- |
ipating freely Besides, answers came
more quickly, thus saving time and |
the experience of the mem
oers. l served as chairman of the
group meetings and tried to give |
every idea fair hearing This helped
he students make group decisions
md reduced the normal barrier be-
jween instructor and students. The
pattern of democratic action was ex-
|
Students Meet the Community
The project brought the students
tut into the larger community-out of
he classroom. They had to see peo-
lie about a variety of things, not only
'eople who were asked to fill out the
but people who could {
elp meet the needs of the project.
lven the president of the university
vas seen for advice and necessary {
learance The same was true in the
ommunity. Booths, for instance, /
yere set up down town in order to {
istribute the missionaries. The i
SOCIOLOGY of banks was discovered l
ow people ignore booths in banks. t
he psychology Of stores was discov- |
people in grocery stores c
dust positively to booths, etc. Even t
le psychology of the courthouse was G
county officials take a
IMMEDIATE interest in activities and I
ant to help. t
tudents Discover Strengths
nd Weaknesses
The many administrative problems
: the project brought out special =
udent abilities. For instance, when u
lie problem of drafting the sheets for :
bulating the data was presented,
le student had an almost uncanny =