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. DAVIOOW ProUmU m4 JnMukr ' loord of Edllen
wmtm c Mirnn vm PmUnt
MmCK I. OtOUUtl AivrttMino Director
MOOTON MANX DintUr ml PMuAr Rrfattau
Swtd oil odwllibta cemiamlcatloM lo taallr Wnkh.
IS N. Mldlai Art.. Cklcogo 1, III.
fr.il, Wklr. M C. MKi ll.. N.w Tort 22, N. . jock tymi p, j. 0(l Ii.lmir HoHtwo
I HI, rtOCUUN0 AND tOOO, mc. 151 N. Mkhi, Av... CMo 1, III. AN rift.ll Mnl
UN KAITMAM KnUn M""
coam nrzMMOM mnutt Eixt"
PMHII DTKiniA Art Kneur
milanii of rton rt w