Broadcasts to Schools.

 

An overwhelming amount of material has been written on the subject of educational broadcasting-the presentation and reception of school programs. Most of this has been in the form of pamphlets and magazine articles; it is surprising how few books have been printed in this field. The U. S. Office of Education issues a great many pamphlets of instruction and syllabuses which are mailed free to àny teacher. Carroll Atkinson has made an analysis of the development of radio education in American school systems which was published by the Edinboro Educational Press in 1939. This section is limited to an outline of methods that are successfully used in direct radio teaching. However, direct teaching is not the major purpose of educational radio, for the majority of programs are designed to supplement or enrich the work of the local teacher, to stimulate the interest of the student, to demonstrate methods of teaching, or to provide a useful tool of instruction for school talent. Despite the fact that teachers or those interested in education were the first to recognize the great opportunity offered to them by radio, they have not yet agreed upon a lucid definition of education by radio. Educational broadcasting should obviously include more than the presentation of such subject matter as is regularly taught in the various grades of school. In fact, adult education possibly has a greater value. It cannot be stated that every program emanating from an educational institution is educational, for there are many sports programs and dance - orchestra programs so broadcast. It is equally true that not all commercial programs can be condemned, for many of them possess educational merit. C. F. Klinefelter, Educational Consultant of the Federal Radio Education Committee, suggests that the following tests be applied to commercial programs before they are accepted as educational: 1. Does the program convey to the listeners socially desirable information which they did not possess before hearing the program? If so, the program is educational. But the significance of the term "socially desirable information" must not be overlooked. It means information which society at large would regard as being generally desirable for the average person to know, especially such types of information as tend to improve the individual himself and enable him to keep pace with the gradually rising level of social knowledge and culture. This would classify programs dealing with merely curious bits of information as being entertaining rather than educational. 2. Does the program discuss items of knowledge and give clear-cut directions for their practical application so that the listeners not only have a clear understanding of the items of knowledge but can make practical application of them as need or occasion arises? If só, the program is educational. 3. Does the program give a step-by-step explanation of how to do or make a certain thing with clear-cut directions as each step is covered so that the listeners can do or make the thing as need or occasion may arise? If so, the program is educational. 4. Does the program present a problem involving the exercise of judgment or constructive thinking in such a way as to bring out, in an impartial and dispassionate manner, all of the various factors involved in the problem so that the listeners are stimulated to make an intelligent evaluation and arrive at a logical conclusion? If so, the program is educational.  

Roughly classified, radio broadcasts can be grouped under the general headings: talk, directed activities, actuality broadcasts, conversations, debates, and plays. The different subjects demand different types of programs, which have been discussed in previous chapters. One of the most important factors of the successful program is the personality and attitude of the speaker. He must be friendly and courteous. His personality must be magnetic to such a degree that he can hold his unseen audience and make it receptive to his ideas. He must appear to be on the pupil's level, yet retain his own personality. His attitude must be one of cooperation. If the speaker feels his talk is somewhat serious for the juvenile audience, he should use stories from life to illustrate it. It is through directed activity that nearly all radio teaching is done. Courses that are easy to teach in this manner are music, science, art, and arithmetic. Usually the students take notes or follow instructions during the broadcasts. Some teachers give short daily tests covering the material that has been presented. Other teachers encourage direct discussion, and still others use both oral and written compositions as a means of discovering just how much of the radio lesson the students have retained. Actuality broadcasts describe important events of public interest with the proper sound effects and commentaries. Broadcasts such as these aid the student in his study of current events. Actuality programs broadcast from a museum or art gallery, from the Senate Chamber, or from a courtroom are vivid dramas to teach the school boy or girl. Actuality broadcasts are sometimes exciting for the announcer as well as interesting to the listener. I recall that in one zoology broadcast a member of the faculty brought a 4 -foot rattlesnake into the announcer's booth so that he might broadcast the rattle of the snake. In order to get the snake to rattle, the speaker had to annoy the snake. Another radio teacher brought a bear cub into the studio. I can assure you that in these cases there was plenty of interest upon the program, and the feelings of the interviewer were very obvious. Conversation or dialogue on the air is interesting to the high-school student. This procedure introduces new and different trends of thought and permits the student to tie his own ideas to those presented. The pupils hear the viewpoints of people who are well versed in the subject in hand. Thus the student's knowledge is increased and broadened. The presentation of debates over the air is difficult. In the first place, the listener may feel that the station is biased. Then, too, the subject must be controversial, yet must not offend any of the listeners. The subject must also be interesting to a widespread audience. It is difficult to select a subject, do a great deal of research work on it, and then present it in such a way that the audience may grasp, in a limited period of time, the ideas that have been produced after weeks of work. Plays for pupils should be short and the sound effects, while more numerous than in plays planned for the general audience, must be simple. Characters should be limited, and the contrast in voices should be marked. Special lines should be used to introduce each voice. Study the requirements set forth in the chapters on Writing the Radio Play and on Preparation of Children's Programs. Radio addresses can be used for all subjects but they must be short and attractive. Round tables for topics dealing with literature, civics, or current events give a varied viewpoint. In fact, every type of radio program should be examined, and the one best suited to the subject matter to be presented should be chosen.

I. is wise to have a teacher gather the material, for accurate facts are essential, and then turn these facts over to the radio showman for development into an interesting presentation. However, the teacher and the broadcaster must cooperate in building the program because the former is better able to visualize the school audience while the latter is more familiar with the medium. The vocabulary level and the mental understanding of the young listeners should be determined by the educator. The subject matter, in conformation with the radio requirements, should be organized by the program director. A limited phase of the topic should be chosen for each broadcast, for - the listener demands a satisfying completeness despite the limited period allotted to the program. It is wise to create in each period an interest in the radio lesson to follow A few points, illustrated clearly, make it possible for the pupil to retain what he hears. Start out with some interest - catching statement and work to an effective close. The requirements of radio style previously set forth should be followed-a friendly conversational style using strong simple diction. George M. Cohan wrote a song whose title contained good advice, "Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye." While interest is essential in the radio -school program, it must not crowd out educational value. Frequently the drama type of school program has little left that is instructive after the music, sound effects, and plot have been discarded in the classroom discussion following the program. The school program, furthermore, should be planned to fit into the curricula of as many schools as possible. For this reason it is well to discuss such topics and presentations with education boards while planning them; do not broadcast programs on Shakespeare when the school children are studying O. Henry. Another general requirement is to arrange the program for pupils of a definite level and then inform teachers what grades are to listen. Be certain that the pupil in those grades will understand every word, follow every sentence, and be familiar with every allusion. While school programs must contain facts and information, no one will listen to learn those facts unless the programs are interesting. Try the continuity out on a group of youngsters before you send it into the air; otherwise it may just float away, bringing neither credit to the teacher nor knowledge to the listener. In order that teachers may call their classes to order and correctly tune their radios, the first 5 minutes should be either music or relatively unimportant material. 

A good program should conform to an outline that is easy for the listener to follow in note taking. Use all available means to create interest and cooperation by the student listeners, such as appointing secretaries, discussion leaders, class property men, and others with definite duties to perform in preparation for the broadcast or in following up the program. In selling his instruction, the wise educational broadcaster will adopt all the worth -while ideas of the advertiser on sponsored programs. Contests, essays, the reading of "testimonials" from students-all these and other methods will enlist the interest of the audience. Some principals and teachers have only a limited number of their students listen to a radio program; these students take notes and report to the class, an excellent practice in listening and note taking. The broadcaster must learn when to pause so that the listener can take his notes or participate in other ways. The best idea is for the broadcaster to have a group of pupils in the studio with him where he can watch their participation and thus time his delivery. Listeners are frequently asked to repeat pronunciations of words, to answer questions, or to draw pictures; consequently the radio teacher must learn to give adequate opportunity for this participation. It is also wise to repeat essential material, but this should be done in such a way as not to bore the listener.

Since Dr. Joseph E. Maddy has been very successful in teaching the playing of wind and stringed instruments over the air from the University of Michigan, the procedure that he uses is given in his own phraseology: The procedure is simple. I use two adjoining studios, separated by double windows. In one studio I have a studio band, orchestra, or choir of professional musicians, university students, or high-school students. This group demonstrates for the pupils by sounding tones and chords and by singing or playing phrases to be repeated by the pupils at the receiving end of the lesson. In an adjoining studio I have a class of beginning students who sit facing a radio -receiving set, from which they receive their instructions. By watching these pupils I am enabled to synchronize the speed of the lesson with the average ability of the pupils taking the lesson. Whenever I have a few spare hours I visit some of my radio classes for the purpose of ascertaining wherein I have failed to accomplish the objectives of the preceding lessons. I learn something from every class I visit, and in this way I believe I am improving my teaching technic week by week. The old familiar maxim "Teach less so the pupils can learn more" applies with particular emphasis to radio teaching. My radio pupils are teaching me to keep my mouth shut and let them play throughout the entire lesson period, even if they are left with several unsolved problems at the end of the lesson. The purpose of every lesson, radio or otherwise, should be to increase the students' power to solve their own problems. Radio classes in schools are in charge of a teacher, school janitor, town minister, or other adult whose duty it is to see that the pupils are ready to receive the lessons and that they pay attention to the directions. The first part of the first lesson consists in matching tones. The first exercise in the Radio Music Course uses three tones, do, re, and mi. The studio band sus- tains each of these tones while the pupils strive to match them. We take time to demonstrate to the pupils by tones which octave to play and give them some idea of how to read the fingering charts in their books.

 

We learn to play the first exercise by rote. The studio band plays the melody, then the pupils try to imitate the phrases as sounded by the studio band. The first lesson is never complete until we have tried to play "America." It isn't necessary to completely teach the playing of "America," for they will learn it by themselves, even if they succeed in playing only the starting tone during the lesson. Do I expect the pupils to practice the exercises? Of course not. You wouldn't practice exercises if you could play tunes would you? Neither will any other normal person. The first exercises are for classwork during the first lesson, for the purpose of developing tonal range-then to be forgotten. If I can send every radio pupil home with the ability to play one tone .and confidence that he will be able to learn to play "America" within a few hours' practice, my first lesson will have been a success. Succeeding lessons follow a similar plan. The pupils learn to play two or three new songs each lesson, by rote, but they watch the notes for fingering marks and eventually acquire some ability in sight-reading. Two, three, and four-part songs are introduced as the lessons progress. Most of the songs are in the singing key, so that the instrumentalists may join with the singing class for school assemblies and for school and community festivals. 

As vocational guidance is becoming more and more important in our educational system, we see that the radio plays an equally important role in presenting adequate information about this subject to the schools. The principal purpose of these programs is to provide high-school boys and girls with information that will be helpful in choosing their vocations. Experience has shown that radio talks of this type have been received most favorably when the type of audience was kept clearly in mind in preparing and presenting the talk. A simple, straightforward, fairly informal style is the best. What these young people want to know about an occupation is well indicated by the following outline, which has been prepared by specialists in this field. The main headings may be of assistance to you in preparing your paper. 1. Importance of the Occupation. A few sentences concerning its origin and development; society's dependence upon it; the number of people employed in it (men and women); supply of workers as compared with demand; distribution (in every community or in certain communities). 2. Nature of the Work. General character; divisions of the occupation (fields of specialization) ; what the worker does in the largest division or group (a typical day's work may be described). Is work routine in character or mentally stimulating? 3. General Working Conditions. Hours of work; slack and peak seasons; physical environment; social environment; health and safety conditions. 4. Remuneration. Average earnings at the beginning, after ten years, after twenty years; exceptional earnings; how paid-by hour, weekly, annually, by fees, etc.; pensions and annuities; vacation periods and sick leave; social recognition; satisfaction from community service. 5. Opportunities for Advancement. Possible lines of promotion; factors influencing promotion; opportunities to transfer to related occupations. 6. Important Personal Qualifications. Age requirements; physical requirements; mental requirements; temperamental requirements; personal traits needed; social aptitudes important.

7. Preparation. General education desirable; special education needed and where obtainable; cost of preparation; continued preparation after work begins and how secured; how occupation is entered. 8. Teaching facilities available to one intending to enter this vocation. Subject matter is the most important factor in the vocational program. The students are not to be entertained, primarily, but are in need of authoritative information about different vocations. A sheet of suggestions for utilizing each broadcast can be prepared to accompany each lesson, as well as a manual for teachers, containing supplemental questions and answers, based on the program, and a list of suggested readings. Short plays are especially helpful in presenting the material to the student in an interesting way. These plays should take the child through the various experiences of choosing a vocation and show how the vocational adviser reaches his decisions in helping young people choose their work. Interviews by students with men and women in some of these representative vocations make very successful programs. This type of program enables the students to get some firsthand information about various vocations, and as a result they are enthusiastic about learning all they can about the work in which they are especially interested. The problem is to avoid overstimulating susceptible listeners. 

The teaching of elementary science has been successfully conducted through the medium of the radio. It is vital for the teacher to humanize the subject, showing how its applications affect the individual. The programs, while being a form of direct teaching, are largely considered to be an incentive to further study and experimentation by the student. It is wise to choose class discussions in which there may be some sound effects to make for greater realism. The speech itself may be direct lecture, a dialogue between a student and his teacher, or a classroom demonstration. It is wise to tie in the experiment being performed in a period with what has been broadcast on a previous lesson, and at the close of the program to announce the equipment that the receiving student should have available to be used in the next broadcast. There are many devices that may be used upon these science programs to create interest, such as questions that have been sent in by students. The radio teacher must insert adequate pauses to enable the student in his home workshop to carry on the experiment that is being demonstrated in the broadcasting studio. In presenting this type of course, the teacher must realize the limitations of the home laboratory and select as equipment those things that the student can easily obtain. Radio lessons in science are being conducted in many school systems. 

These facts must be accurate and gathered by an instructor in history who has conducted research in the particular time and event that are to be presented over the radio. While wars are considered of great importance in the teaching of history, it is generally conceded that history radio programs should not glorify war or arouse hatred for the enemy. It is better in such dramatizations to stress the lives of individuals and through these lives bring out historical facts. The authors must be familiar with the daily life of the time he is portraying, for the diction and the minor events are of vital importance as well as the major historical facts. A method that has been found very successful is that of tracing history backward, taking some aspect of life today and tracing it to its origin. Such topics as transportation, banking, communication, and cooperative movements can be treated by this method, either through the dramalogue or through other methods of presentation. The straight -lecture type of program may also be used by the instructor who has the research libraries of a university at his disposal. He will give enriching material to supplement the work of the local teacher, who has neither the time nor the facilities for such research. Bibliographies of collateral reading may be broadcast in connection with such talks.  

Classes in civics will gain a clearer concept through an actuality type of broadcast. The teachers of civics courses should keep in touch with the daily -program schedules that are distributed by radio stations whose programs may be heard in their locality. They will discover many broadcasts such as those from the Senate Chamber, those by the President, speeches by the Governor, traffic -court broadcasts, and various series dealing with government which will be both timely and instructive to their students. In the majority of instances broadcasting stations are willing to send their weekly schedules to the principals of schools. These can be posted upon the bulletin board for examination by the teachers in various courses. News broadcasts are frequently of value to the civics teacher, especially those programs which vitalize the study of government through the introduction of speakers who are in the day's news. The local station may cooperate with classes by conducting radio visits to various officials. The teacher should introduce the program, telling something about the man who is to speak and laying a groundwork so that the student can visualize the broadcaster. Unfortunately many of the programs of this type are prepared for adult audiences; consequently the local teacher must be alert to make notes upon any statement that will not be under- stood by her pupils and to clarify it at the end of the program. Explanations of civil government by officials who would arrange their material for the school level could do much in educating the future citizens.

Visual aids are essential in the teaching of geography by radio. A radio tour may be conducted from week to week, visiting various cities and countries. Maps and globes may be used by the students 'o follow the trips. Sound effects on the program will assist in making the tour more realistic. The dramatic method is particularly good in such a series. Interest should be built up around a central character. Possibly a father with his son and daughter may be traveling around the world. Human interest will create a week -to -week appeal in such programs. Various modes of travel by rail, steamship, airplane, and even the rocket plane have been used to conduct the schoolroom travelers quickly from one part of the world to another. The speaker must be careful not to attempt to cover too much in a single program. Some limited phase of geography should be chosen for the series. The series might consider the famous art galleries, the industries of different nations, the people and the customs, or agricultural resources. Advanced information concerning each broadcast should be sent out to the schoolteachers who are using the series so that pictures, maps, and other material may be posted upon the blackboards of the schoolroom to interest juvenile travelers. 

Probably no single course is more extensively taught by radio than that of speech. In fact, every announcer is an instructor in such a course. Speech departments in nearly all the universities have presented radio courses, and there are a number of commercial broadcasts, such as the one given by the Better Speech Institute of America. In most of these programs the instructor is assisted by students whose pronunciation, persuasiveness, arrangement of material, clarity, and speech qualities are criticized by the radio teacher. However, the programs should not be permitted to end until the student has corrected his delivery and material to conform to the criticism that has been made. For such courses mimeographed material is usually provided for the students who are listening from some distant point, or a textbook is assigned. The use of a public address system in the local school in imitation of a radio program may be used as a tool to stimulate interest in speech instruction. I have always maintained to my students in broadcast speech that, if they were to accept positions in the teaching of speech in a town in which there is a local broadcasting station, they could build short programs to be presented by

their pupils. The local broadcasting station could be induced to present these during the morning hours when sustaining programs are needed. Programs by the school children would bring a definite audience to the station, consisting of parents and friends of the children who participate. These programs will be interesting and will demonstrate what is being done in the classroom. Such an activity would strengthen the position of the teacher, since she would have all the parents enthusiastic about the work they hear over the radio. This project for the speech teacher in the elementary schools would also serve as a wedge to be used in breaking into the field of broadcasting. The radio is an excellent medium of instruction for speech and debating. All radio programs by public men and outstanding announcers enrich and supplement the work of the local teachers.

Arithmetic has been successfully taught by the radio classroom method, using mimeographed sheets which are distributed to the pupils and which are corrected by the local teacher. Such a program must be given very slowly. The pupil activity will hold the attention of the distant students. Cooperation of the local teacher is essential in such a radio class. Both music and art appreciation have been extensively taught by radio. Visual aids are particularly helpful in the art -appreciation courses, in which familiar statues and paintings are evaluated. Walter Damrosch undoubtedly has (lone more to educate the school children in music appreciation than any other individual. Small textbooks are distributed to the classes that listen to his programs, which are broadcast nationally. Foreign languages have been taught both on the broadcast and by short wave. Through these mediums accurate pronunciation may be brought to the student. The local student is usually provided with a textbook and follows the pronunciation given by the radio teacher. When such broadcasts are sent, from a university or college, it is possible to bring a foreign student before the microphone to speak in the language of his native country and tell about the life of the youth in that country. Such programs must present speakers whose enunciation is precise and not rapid. 

All those who are actively engaged in teaching by radio and in the broadcasting of educational programs to the schools agree upon the vital necessity of preparing teachers' guides to be sent in advance of the programs to the teachers who will be receiving those programs. The Radio Council of the Chicago Public Schools has (lone an excellent job in the preparation of such teachers' broadcasting handbooks. Harold W. Kent, director of the Radio Council, has prepared an entire series of such handbooks for the programs that are to be presented during the season, and copies of these may be obtained by writing to the Radio Council, Chicago Public Schools.

In giving a test to students who are enrolled in a radio course, the test questions should be read slowly and repeated. If interpretive explanations are necessary, they should be given. During the broadcast a number of students should take the test in the studio, where the broadcaster can observe the length of time that should be allowed for his listeners to answer the questions. After all questions have been read, listeners are instructed to exchange papers with their neighbors and the correct answers are then given by the instructor. As the phraseology of the students' answers may differ, the instructor should give various ways in which the questions may be answered correctly. Questions should be so phrased as

 to be satisfied with brief answers. The plus and minus form is excellent for radio tests.

A number of institutions are now offering instruction for preparing the teacher to receive radio programs. Teachers should know how to use their influence in guiding the listening habits of their pupils so that they will obtain that which is of value from both commercial and strictly educational programs. Naturally, radio programs should not be used in the classroom when other available means will better fulfill the teaching objective. Teachers must familiarize themselves with all the sources of information about forthcoming broadcasts and their value to the pupils. No program should be recommended until other programs in the same series have been studied or advance information from the broadcasting station has been examined from the educator's viewpoint. An educational program has been defined by Franklin Dunham of the N.B.C. as one "that has for its purpose the increase of knowledge, the development of skills, or the widening of appreciations of the worthwhile activities of life." However, the value of the broadcast depends greatly upon the course being taught by the instructor and the skill and ingenuity of the teacher. Commercial programs which do not come within the limitations of the above definition may be used in courses in salesmanship and advertising. Students in music appreciation may contrast swing music with symphony music. The teacher who assigns a radio program for study must have a justifiable purpose in doing so and a knowledge of the program assigned. In evaluating a program, consider the hour at which it is broadcast and whether it can be satisfactorily received in the locality. Determine whether the program is accurate in facts presented and free from offensive advertising. The program must accomplish an educational objective and fit into the course for which it is assigned. The teacher must determine whether it is suited to the mental age of the students. No program should be assigned which does not supplement the classroom work. 

The broadcasting of educational programs to the school is seriously handicapped at the present time by the lack of cooperation between the receivers and the broadcasters. An effort should be made in the various states to organize boards made up of representatives of the state departments of education, superintendents of schools, principals, and teachers to determine what subjects can most advantageously be presented to the schools through the medium of radio. Inasmuch as it has been practically impossible to arrange broadcasting schedules to conform to the class schedules of the various schools, some periods during the day should be set aside for the reception of radio programs that meet the approval of the above unifying group. Such a plan would be helpful to all. If a bulletin listing all the educational programs which are broadcast each week and which are available to the schools of the state could be distributed to teachers, it would aid them in selecting those programs which would be beneficial to their pupils. Such a listing should include an evaluation of each program, the school class to which the subject would appeal, and the mental level to which it would apply. It is further suggested that the continuities of educational programs to be broadcast to classes in the schools should be submitted to a board of the type suggested above to determine whether such instruction conforms to the educational policy of the state. If school broadcasting is to be developed beyond its present status, there is need for properly qualified and trained people to carry it on. Only those subjects should be taught by radio which can better be taught by this medium than by the local teacher. The local teacher should be convinced that such instruction will not supplant the local teacher but will merely supplement her personal efforts. Teachers are advised to set the class an example by listening carefully, making notes of words that will require explanation, of ideas that are too advanced, or of links with other work that the class has already done. Unless the broadcast is to teach note taking, the pupils will lose the thread of the talk if they are required to make notes. After the broadcast, class discussion encourages the students to restate ideas that have impressed them. This follow-up work is considered important and evidences the ingenuity of the teacher.