The relative value of sound motion pictures and study sheets in science teaching

Abstract

effective than a silent film in conveying exact information. He also found that educational films can be used effectively as a means of increasing and arousing students' interests. In this respect sound films are apparently more valuable than silent films. Einbecker's3 experiment showed that verbal accompani ments increase the comprehension over that secured from the film without caption or com ment. He also found that silent motion pic tures accompanied by the teacher's comments are superior to both the talking picture and the silent picture with respect to the learning of new technical words or unfamiliar names. Hansen4 found that verbal explanation ac companying an educational talking picture can be presented as effectively by the class room teacher as by the medium of the re corded voice from the sound motion oicture projector. Rulon5 found that film-supple mented classroom procedure resulted in an increase of pupil learning in excess of 20 per cent, when measured in terms of permanent acquisitions. In terms of retained achieve ment measured by giving the tests three months later, the film-supplemented procedure was 38.5 per cent more efficient than the un supplemented method. The findings of West fall's6 investigation showed that explanations prepared by the teacher from material fur nished with the film, a lecture furnished with the film and read by the teacher, and the usual captions were about equal as aids to understanding the contents of the film; these three forms of verbal accompaniment were superior to long captions. A study was conducted by the writer7 at Horace Mann Junior High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the school year of 1937 1938, in which he found that, for immediate recall, study sheets were superior to sound films as a method of direct teaching. In the teaching of four subjects to 140 pairs of eighth grade science pupils, the data show that for each subject the study sheets were superior to a statistically significant degree. The data secured from the tests given for delayed recall did not give statistically sig nificant evidence to indicate that either method of teaching was better.