The selection and evaluation of social studies audio-visual materials for the elementary schools of the Alameda Unified School District

Author

Paul A. Liebhart, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

1950

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Education

First Advisor

J. Marc Jantzen

First Committee Member

Lawrence E. Turner

Second Committee Member

William J. Darden

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish criteria that will be valid for the selection through evaluation of social studies materials for grades one through six in the Alameda Unified School District. The school system feels a need for a rich variety of audio-visual instructional materials for their program so that its teachers might enrich the curriculum of the learner. It is recognized that many varied experiences will increase learning on the part of the student and will help him better to meet life with what he is familiar and has perceived. Kingsley gives the secret of securing and maintaining attention as change, novelty, interest, and meeting a need. It is with this conception that the school system is seeking to develop a list of materials that will become an integral part of the social studies curriculum. Children learn more by seeing than by hearing. The sensory mechanism of the eye is quicker than that of the ear. Morgan states that the child is more susceptible to some stimuli than to others and not because some have more original significance. The United States Navy Department published a Training Aids Manual which indicates that students learn up to 35 per cent more in a given time and remember the facts learned up to 55 per cent longer when teachers use visual material. The Payne Fund Studies have shown that little children attending motion pictures will grasp three out of every five facts that an adult grasps. These children were tested three months from the time they first saw the picture. At the end of this period it was found that they still remembered 90 per cent of what they saw. This points to the conclusive evidence that learning with pictures is not only satisfying to the learner but also makes a lasting impression upon the physical receptors. The visual perceiving of a sound motion picture full of action combined with the sound effects, such as might be found in a film, showing the woodsman cutting the tree and then the terrific crash, is a dynamic way of teaching.

Pages

77

Recommended Citation

Liebhart, Paul A.. (1950). The selection and evaluation of social studies audio-visual materials for the elementary schools of the Alameda Unified School District. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1108