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Audio-Visual Media and Political Science Teaching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Ruth G. Weintraub
Ruth G. Weintraub
Affiliation:
Hunter College
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Extract

In 1940, a total of 1,500,000 students (16 per cent of the 18–21-year-olds) were in attendance in American colleges. This was before the advent of G.I. education, which brought the figure up to 2,350,000 (24 per cent of the 18–21-year-olds).

These vast numbers of students, presenting a challenge to the present generation of college teachers, are of particular portent to the political scientist. The latter, relying largely in the past on his own interpretation of the subject matter based upon standard texts as “the method” for courses in government, is faced with the problem of mass education; as a result, some of the standard teaching techniques are ineffectual. Under these conditions, to what extent can technological changes in mass communication media which have for the most part been ignored at the college level make a contribution?

Audio-visual materials are available and in standard use in medical schools; teaching operative procedures from a televised performance was a regular part of the last medical convention at Atlantic City. Science equipment consisting of laboratories, museums, Balopticans, slide projectors, and motion picture machines are standard for science departments. Even college budget officers, immune to faculty pressure of various types, are sensitive to the demands of science departments for equipment. Such sensitivity, however, does not apply to the social sciences; budget officers still need to be convinced that social science departments have equipment requirements, beyond an allotment to the library for new books.

Type
Instruction and Research
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , August 1949 , pp. 766 - 776
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1949

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References

1 President's Committee on Higher Education, Higher Education for American Democracy (1947), VI, p. 19 Google Scholar.

2 See Hawley, Claude E., “Toward Improved Teaching of Government,” Higher Education, Vol. V, No. 18, pp. 209–211 (May 15, 1949)Google Scholar.

3 McGraw-Hill Co. It is expected that these filmstrips will be ready for distribution by November, 1949.

4 British Information Services: New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco.

5 Marshall E. Dimock (chairman), president of the Shinner Political Economy Research Foundation; Harold M. Dorr, University of Michigan; James W. Fesler, University of North Carolina; Claude E. Hawley, Office of Education, Federal Security Agency; E. Allen Helms, Ohio State University; V. O. Key Jr., Yale University; Ruth G. Weintraub, Hunter College; and Howard White, Miami University.

6 Also note “Special Report: Film Production in U. S. Colleges and Universities,” See and Hear, IV (Apr., 1949)Google Scholar.

7 Americans All; The American Way; Arteries of the City; Atom Bomb-Test—Bikini Island; Causes and Immediate Effects of the First World War; Causes of the Second World War; The City; Control of Atomic Energy; Declaration of Independence; Democracy; Despotism; The Economic and Social Council, Foundation for Peace; English Criminal Justice; Everyman's Empire; General Election; Health and Cycle of Water; Highlights of the United Nations Year (1947–48); How a Bill Becomes a Law; In Common Cause; Indonesian Story; International Control of Atomic Energy; Juvenile Delinquency; Our Louisiana Purchase; Meet Your Federal Government; Now the Peace; One World—or None; One World Story; Our Bill of Rights; Our Constitution; Our Monroe Doctrine; Our National Government; Pennsylvania Local Government in Action; Peoples of the Soviet Union; The Plow that Broke the Plains; Powers of Congress; Power on the Land; Public Opinion; Rise and Fall of the Nazi Empire; Serving Other People; Shrine of a Nation, Westminster Abbey; TVA; Versailles and After; We Are Brothers; Woodrow Wilson; World of Plenty; You, the People.

8 Amprosound Premier “20,” $493.50, Ampro Corporation, 545 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

Bell and Howell Filmsound “185,” $495.00–595.00, Bell and Howell, 7100 McCormick Road, Chicago, Ill.

Both these machines have proved very satisfactory in operation. Other standard projectors are the RCA “400,” $541.50, and the NatCo “3030”—$289.50.

9 S.V.E. Tri-purpose Slide Projector, $80.00, Society for Visual Education, 2067 Broadway, New York City. Other standard machines are: Bell and Howell Duo-Master, $130.00, and Ampro Corp. 30-D, $86.00.

10 Radiant Manufacturing Corp., 2627 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Ill., $18.50-up, depending on size and type of screen. Da-Lite Screen Co., Inc., 2711-23 N. Crawford Avenue, Chicago, Ill., $15.75-up, depending on size and type of screen.

11 Selected Educational Motion Pictures, American Council on Education, 1942. (Detailed content descriptions, the full title, length, and sources are given for nearly five hundred 16mm films.)

Audio-Visual Committee of the California School Supervisors Association, Sources of Audio-Visual Materials and Equipment (mimeo), Sacramento: California State Department of Education, 1948. (Sources for 16mm motion pictures, filmstrips, and slides; also for catalogues, periodicals, equipment, and charts.)

Educational Film Guide, New York, H. W. Wilson Co., 1948, $4.00 per year.Google Scholar (Most complete catalogue of educational films available. Gives producer, price, level of film, and description. Films are classified for easy reference by title or subject-matter.)

Educational Screen, Pontiac, Ill., Educational Screen Inc., $3.00 per year. (Magazine devoted to audio-visual materials. Teacher evaluation of new films, literature on visual instruction.)

Federal Security Agency, A Partial List of 16mm Film Libraries, Washington: Federal Security Agency, Office of Education, Visual Aids Section, Apr., 1948 Google Scholar.

Filmstrip Guide, New York, H. W. Wilson Co., 1948. $3.00 per year.Google Scholar (This annual catalogue does for filmstrips what the Educational Film Guide does for films.)

Library of Congress, Guide to United States Motion Pictures, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, June, 1947, I Google Scholar. (Titles, length, and date of films produced by various departments and agencies of the government.)

Hartley, William H., Selected Films for American History and Problems, New York, Teachers College, 1940.Google Scholar (Handbook for use in American history, problems of democracy, civics, geography, and fusion courses. Gives directions for obtaining, evaluating, and utilizing educational films. Also gives a catalogue of most useful films in these fields.)

1000 and One—Blue Book of Non-Theatrical Films, Pontiac, Ill., Educational Screen Inc., $1.00 per year. (Valuable for the location of film sources.)

United Nations Department of Public Information, Films and Visual Information Division, United Nations 16mm Films and Filmstrips, Lake Success, United Nations. (Films and filmstrips produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information.)

12 Millett, John D., “The Use of Visual Aids in Political Science Teaching,” in this Review, June, 1947, p. 526 Google Scholar.

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