Effective Teaching Procedures Research Articles

An Application of Learning Principles to the Training of Radio Code Operators

This experiment, conducted from November 1958 to August 1959, was designed to determine the relative merits of two experimental methods and one control method of training radio code operators. Some notion of the importance of the problem can be gained from the fact that, even during peacetime, the Navy is graduating about 4,000 operators a year. Thousands more are being trained by the Army and by the Air Force. Some of the earliest experiments reported in the psychological literature are the classic studies on learning radio code done by Bryan and Harter (1897; 1899). The primary interest in those studies was the shape of the learning curve rather than the development of effective teaching procedures. During and since World War II, a number of studies have been made of the relative effectiveness of two or more competing learning methods in order to ascertain what contribution might be made by them to the solution of a practical military problem-training many servicemen in the reception of International Morse Code.

Procedures for Refining Typewriting Techniques—Part 1

Abstract This is the second part of a two-part article. In last month's issue, Mr. Robinson gave an analysis of typewriting techniques as they affect skill development. Part 2, which appears here, presents some effective teaching procedures for developing and refining techniques of machine operation.

A Study of the Learning and Retention of Materials Presented by Lecture and by Silent Film

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) the informational gains made by pupils listening to a lecture, as compared with gains made from seeing a silent motion picture presenting the same material, and (2) the retention of the informational gains made by the two methods of presenta tion over varying periods of time from three weeks to fifteen weeks. With the renewed interest in visual education in recent years there has been considerable emphasis placed upon the importance of the visual approach to teaching. Many studies give consistent evidence that pupils make greater gains when visual materials are used. In considering teaching methods it is important to know whether these greater gains are due pri marily to the visual presentation alone, or to the visual presentation plus other activities such as teacher preparation and follow-up, pupil discussion, etc. If the visual presentation alone is responsible for the effectiveness of teaching procedures, based on the use of pictures, then teachers would be justified in the mere showing of pictures. If, on the other hand, it is found that the mere showing of pictures does not seem to be an effective teaching procedure, then teachers need to be much concerned with the teaching devices used to supplement the seeing experience. It must be kept in mind that this study is not a comparison of the visual method and the lecture method. As the study is described it will be apparent that it is rather a comparison of one way of using silent motion pictures (the mere showing of the pictures with no supplementary pro cedures) with a lecture method which included the use of such visual materials as blackboard diagrams, etc.