Chapter 1:Film and Radio
From Eduwiki
Teachers and Machines Chapter 1: By Larry Cuban
Chapter one revolves around the use of film and radio in the classroom during the turn of the 19th century. Educational reform was an important issue and the government and local educational leaders thought that implementing new technology, specifically radio and film would make student learning more efficient. Chapter one discredits lots of the studies showing that radio and film use are were heavily used in the classroom. One example sites that principles were filling out the surveys instead of the teachers thus not getting an accurate level of responses. Rarely in these surveys where conclusions based from teachers input. A teacher might use the radio for 10 minutes in one class, but due to the lack on investigative or competent surveys, data was construed that teachers used radios in the classroom without explaining really how infrequent it was used. School districts had high hopes for film and radio to make education more efficient. This was important because of the lack of educational progress being made, and conclusions were made that teachers might not be qualified or not enough capable teachers were available to teach thus radio and film would be good substitutes to teach the students.
Efficiency-minded progressives like John Dewey and William Kilpatrick were big proponents during the 1930’s of using technology to increase efficiency in the classroom. In the book Cuban paints a picture of poor studies that did not revolve around teachers input or opinions. This fact is partially why radio and film failed in the classroom. After the great hype of film in the classroom it soon fizzled out. More teachers used film and radio in elementary schools compared to secondary schools. The primary reasons why film failed in the classroom according to Cuban were:
- Teachers lack of skills in using film equipment - Cost of films, equipment, an upkeep - Inaccessibility of equipment when it is needed - Finding and fitting the right film to the class
After film, radio was the new hype. The radio was suppose to be the new “teacher assistant” in schools. CBS and NBC both promoted universal learning shows for schools to use across America. Even the government poured 10s of millions into funding radios and educational on-air programs. And after World War II the cost of radios went down dramatically. Once again misguided studies showed that technology was being implemented into classrooms more than they actually were. But by 1950 they were non-existent in classroom studies (for the most part). A few reasons were concluded why radio didn’t catch on in the classroom as hoped. First the technology of radio advanced so fast teachers couldn’t relate their curriculum to radios, second insufficient equipment, third teachers lack of motivation to change their traditional ways and forth, using the radio was to hard or did not relate to the curriculum being taught in the classroom. The last major reason was that television was starting to emerge and the speculators started getting excited about using TV in the classroom, something that brought both visual and auditory learning in the classroom. Chapter two begins with the integration of television into the classroom.
Education at the Turn of the Century
Various opinions have been given with regards to the type of teaching being conducted in schools during the early 1900’s. Classrooms were described as mindless and regimented were students followed the instructions given by the teacher. Students learned in a very uniform manner and gave short responses to the many questions asked by teachers. Progressivism ideas were introduced to bring a new perspective to the believed lifeless instruction that was taking place in education. The focus is to build upon student interests and activities that help positive and open outcomes.
The History of Film use in the Classroom
Film was believed to be an extremely real and as a medium that can be used to take up less instructional time so progressive educators and additional school officials incorporated more films in education. Catalogs of silent films were produced and made available for schools to use. Due to costs and the unreliable equipment many schools were unable to use films. It was not until 1931 that there were 25 states that had some schools that had access to films and other forms of media. The use of film and projectors at that time were progressive innovations similar to the current concept of the computer and Internet usages.
Effectiveness and Frequency of Use
Different research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of films used in the classroom. Researchers used a control group of students and an experimental group of students who were studying the same curriculum. The experimental group saw a film that complimented the same lecture the control group had but the control group did not view the film. An achievement test was given to the two classes and the experimental group scored higher on the achievement test in comparison to the control group. Experimenters concluded that the usage of film in the classroom is beneficial to student achievement. Of course there are many aspects of this research that can be concluded as unreliable and biased. It was difficult for researchers to determine how many teachers use films in their classroom and how often films are being used. It was difficult because most experimenters asked superintendents of schools and not the teachers themselves. Surveys were sent out to teachers and principals in 1933 but only 7% responded to the surveys that they received. In 1946 another survey was sent out to schools. Roughly 63% of the intended participants responded, mostly from schools in urban areas with large populations. It was found that more elementary schools were using films than secondary schools. From research and surveys it was determined that many teachers were not effectively using film in the classroom and were infrequently using film.
Reasons for Infrequent Use
1) Finding an adequate film to represent the subject matter being taught.
2) High costs for equipment, film and maintenance upkeep.
3) Unable to access equipment when needed.
4) Teachers have a lack of knowledge and experience with the equipment.
Radio in the Classroom: the Assistant Teacher
Benjamin Darrow was an advocate for the use of radio in the classroom as a way to teach textbooks through the airways. In the 1900’s it was believed that radio would be accepted as the new effective medium used to teach students. When schools first started to use radio in the classroom there were problems with equipment. Similar to the usage of film, surveys were conducted by principals and superintendents and not the actual teachers themselves. It was also difficult to determine the actual amount of instructional time was being supplemented with the usage of radio. There were also some additional problems with the costs of the upkeep of the equipment. In the middle of the 1900’s it became know that radio and film would not represent a very common medium used in the classroom for enhancing curriculum.
