Creating Instructional Materials (1963)

[Music] Heat. Heat. A seven-year-old shapes a cone of foil into a horn for Billy Goat Gruff. A junior high student peers into a microscope and sketches the mold growing on a piece of bread. A high school boy uses the school recorder to record a panel discussion broadcast outside of school hours. And Jefferson's ultimate extension of federal powers in the acquisition of federal territories. And later, with the help of some classmates, edits the speaker's remarks into a five-minute presentation. These are the students for whom a learning situation has become a vivid, engrossing, total experience. In creating their own instructional materials, they have brought their hands, their eyes, and their ears into service to satisfy questions raised by their inquiring minds. To stimulate this inquiring attitude, this wanting to learn is one of the purposes for which we teachers use audiovisisual materials. We know our pupils learn more easily and retain what they learn longer if all the senses, all the doorways to their minds are involved. We want to stimulate. And we know there are few activities as stimulating as those in which something is created. Creating a good bulletin board display on Thomas Jefferson is not just a matter of putting up something to look at. For instance, one student may be involved in research. One group may have to make selections deciding which material best serves the purpose. Another student may have to construct materials available from no other source. And finally, the students bring together the results of the research and selection of materials in the construction of a bulletin board. When students with our help actually create those materials which help them learn, we can be sure we have made strides toward one part of our goal to stimulate. And so we provide opportunities for our students to create instructional materials. This important teaching technique is effective for every age and every grade level. Although we cannot in this film indicate all the possible ways creative projects aid learning, we can look back to observe some methods the teachers of our three students used and evaluate some results from creating instructional materials. All right, Ronnie, you read the next line. One day, little Billy Goat Gruff started across the wide river. Trip trap, trip trap, trip trap when his wee feet on the bridge. Who is walking across my bridge? Called the troll with a terrible roar. Very good, Ronnie read that just as if he were the troll himself. I can do that, too. So can I. Well, fine. We've read the story once. Now, let's put our books aside, act it out, and see what happens. A reading lesson develops into an opportunity to enlarge other skills other than reading. Such skills as cooperation, diction, and enunciation. Reading readiness may also be increased. The next time these children read a story, it will not just be words in a book. Already the children have solved the problem of making a bridge. It is real enough for the moment, but the more they become involved in this activity, which is creative in itself, the more opportunities will arise to broaden their experience. An impromptu playlist may liven the reading lesson for one day. But seizing on the high level of motivation here, this teacher capitalizes further on an aid to learning by guiding her students into the presentation of a real play, bringing in many associated activities. At later intervals in her classroom, one could find a script writing team busy at work. And incidentally, the writers were those who could profit most from exercises in composing sentences and handwriting. One could find another committee engaged in painting a backdrop, having called on a resource person, the art supervisor, for suggestions. And one could find happy, absorbed individuals constructing the masks for the billy goats and the troll to wear. Coordinator of all this activity has been the teacher guiding, helping the young people make their own decisions, giving encouragement throughout preparation for the program. This is our play about the three Billy Goats gruff. One was little, one was medium, and one was big and really rough, the student written script, the costumes, the scenic background, the program, all the created materials that have contributed so much to a variety of learning experiences for this group. All of them have one further value. Promoting parental interest in the children's school activities. But students can create their own learning resources in other ways. In this 7th grade classroom, a restaurant owner is speaking on the subject of food spoilage, the class's current science project. His daughter Ruth possibly would never have thought of dad as a resource person without her teacher's guidance. She might even be surprised to learn that she has helped to create a learning situation by conveying the teacher's invitation for her father to speak to the class. But observe Ruth's classmates looking and listening and you will see that the information provided by a resource speaker fits into the audiovisisual field. A field which includes all materials not totally dependent upon reading to convey meaning. So in our business we use three things. We use refrigeration to bacteria development. We use pressure cooking, high temperatures for short periods to destroy bacteria. And we insist upon cleanliness, absolute cleanliness to help eliminate or control food spoilage. Well, boys and girls, I hope you know a little bit more about the subject now. Thank you. Following the restaurant owner's visit, this class went on to do-it-yourself activities which proved to be valuable not only for the firsthand information derived from them but also for the introduction of scientific methods. Under the guidance of their teacher, this group has set up a display the parts of which were researched, collected, and created by the students themselves. Facts from their textbook study of bacteria were personally verified by students finding evidence of bacteria in a food milk and conducting a simple experiment to show the control of bacteria afforded by refrigeration. But firsthand experience with preserving milk by one method led to study of other methods of food preservation and a student originated display in that area. Work on this science project is still in progress. One of the girls, having observed from a simple experiment how a wax paper covering can the growth of mold in bread, now goes further to make a sketch of the mold. and other students are selecting material for a new display from pictures taken when the class made a field trip to the restaurant. The science project may not be over, but some important gains are being made through direct personal creation of learning materials. The students are working cooperatively toward a common goal. They are forming conclusions based on their own sharpened observation and they are developing new communication skills. It's likely to be that way in any classroom where students see, hear, and do while they learn. For example, in a high school social studies unit on Jefferson, a student who had visited Montichello brought in slides which helped give an insight into Jefferson the man. Jefferson was a statesman, inventor, and architect. He designed and supervised the construction of his own home, Montichello. It is still a showplace today. and student members of a team which had recorded and edited a television panel discussion have given their classmates a basis for evaluating Jefferson the statesman all Jeffersonian principal there are many among them there's Jefferson's running feud with Hamilton during Washington's administration overre an outstanding teacher in this classroom has directed student awareness to the character and abilities of one of our nation's founders and done so by means which are certainly effective, having them create instructional materials so that they are inspired to dig deeper into our democratic heritage. They have written essays and in doing so have reinforced their knowledge and understanding of Jeffersonian democracy. They have prepared maps not as a handiwork exercise but to help themselves visualize and understand the consequences of the Louisiana purchase an event of Jefferson's administration. We have already seen the bulletin board display which brought together many of their creative efforts. Now let us meet the teacher who is behind all these coordinated activities. Mr. Hartley, we've been looking in on some of the creative work your students have done for this unit. Have you any secrets about inspiring this enthusiastic support? None. Unless my own enthusiasm for the subject matter is catching. That plus the fact that I encourage initiative. When Tom needed information for an essay comparing the powers of government under Jefferson and under the present administration, he wrote to Washington for this pamphlet. Then you consider the search for unusual reference materials as a form of creative activity. Definitely often a very rewarding form. Take this book for example. A student was preparing a book report on it. She uh ran across some ideas which she didn't understand. So she wrote to the author asking him to explain them. She got a response too. She was able to work his points into her report. I find that true with many students in this class. They're questioning, probing, forming intellectual conclusions of their own. questioning, probing, forming intellectual conclusions of their own, becoming students in the true meaning of the word. Those are some of the results teachers have achieved from helping young people create instructional materials. These results certainly indicate to us as teachers the importance of having our students involved in creating instructional materials. [Music]