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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1963)
A. IIS What Teaching Machines Can Do for Your Child By JERRY KLEIN mm iT A group of seniors in a mathemat ics class in a Roanoke (Va.) high school sat hunched over the windows of a boxlike contraption that posed questions much as a teacher would. After writing the answer, each student twirled a knob which revealed the accuracy of his work. In one semester, using what have been popularly called "teaching machines," these 21 seniors have completed axiomatic algebra, solid geometry, and some calculus. Surprisingly, this was not a class of geniuses but rather a normal group of intelligent young sters studying math. The teaching machines were part of a special program in Roanoke to deter mine the effectiveness of teaching machines or "programmed instruction," as it is known to educators. This, the first real revolution in teach ing techniques since the HcGuffey readers, is be ing appraised in hundreds of schools with results that vary from good to startling. Of the basic types of equipment used for "pro grammed instruction," perhaps the most inex pensive is the ingenious "electronic classroom" originally the brainstorm of a Connecticut high school French teacher, Mrs. Rita Barrows. At a party in Westport, Conn., Mrs. Barrows met an official of Dictaphone Corp. and wondered aloud whether a standard dictating machine could be adapted to automated classroom learning. "Would you," she asked the official, "care to experiment?" The result is a special classroom in Westport's Long Lots Junior High School with three Dictaphone machines hooked up by ear phone to 30 desks. With the aid of a channel selector at each desk, the student can bring in any one of three lessons prerecorded on plastic belts. The system allows students to work at their own best learning rate and frees the teacher for individual tutoring. The so-called "teaching machines" are usually no more than a box about the size of a portable record player. The preprogrammed lesson, on paper or microfilm, is loaded into the machine, which brings each "step" of the lesson into view at the turn of a knob. The student then writes in the answer to the question in the frame and pulls a lever to uncover the correct answer so he can compare it with his own. The basis of the teaching-machine program is the presentation of the material in small, easily grasped bits of information. The first steps are Students in an automated language laboratory in Scarsdale, N. Y. (above), learn with tapes and headset. Teacher (below) adjusts master console. n They enable a student to learn aster and better but they will never replace good, live teachers simple and become difficult so gradually that the student is barely aware of it What are the values gained by the timesaving automated classrooms? First, teachers will be able to pay more attention to the broader aims of education than the mere repetition of facts and dates. Second, enjoying the stimulus of a constant check of his progress and the pleasure of being . rewarded promptly when his work is correct, the . pupil has a feeling of accomplishment. Some educators feel that the very newness of the method accounts for a good deal of its effee- . tiveness. They maintain that the novelty of using a machine catches the student's interest and helps hold him to his work. The real value of these pro cedures will not be known, then, until the stu dents have been using machines or other types of programmed instruction throughout most of their educational careers. There is evidence, how ever, that the presentation of material in pro grammed form is highly effective. Teaching machines and programmed instruc tion are not, of course, the final word in education. They have no magical properties that will sud denly implant in the student's mind the knowl edge that exists in a specific course. Robert E. Silverman, chairman of New York University's psychology department, adds : "It should be pointed out that programmed . teaching will help your child most in those courses whose goals are the most clear and obvious. Also, its full potential is tied directly to that indis pensable human element, the teacher who directs the use of the machine. Let there be no mistake: no system of electronics ever can replace the ben eficial influence that an inspired instructor can have on your child." The continuing need for this human touch was illustrated by the girl who was asked her opinion of the machines used in her school. "I like the machines, all right," she said. "But some times I'm uneasy because I have the feeling that I don't know why I answered the problems right" A live teacher can make -sure that she really grasps the principles involved. One firm producing programmed instructional materials considers the need for effective class room teaching as basic to its whole approach. Accelerated Instruction Methods Corp. of Chicago provides a comprehensive teacher's manual for each of its programmed books in general science, so that active student participation can be ex tended to experiment periods and discussions led by the teacher. The joining of these two proce dures adds to the effectiveness of both, and it is probable that this teacher-directed programmed instruction will be the most important result of the entire development Whatever the exact form of "hardware" used, rest assured that with proper supervision by live teachers, wonderfully free from much of the old routines, America's youth will be more truly edu cated than ever before. With programmed in struction, your child will learn more and love it! COVER: Art dolls getting bigger or little girls smaller t L. Willinger caught this charm ing juxtaposition, which causes momentary doubt as to who is who. Patterns for a doll's knit wardrobe art found on p. 10. Family Weekly '. Septmbrrl, 1H3 IIOHMD I. 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