A comparison of the effectiveness of training films and teacher demonstrations as supplementary devices for teaching related information in industrial arts electricity
This report is the result of the writer's desire to investigate the effectiveness of the educational motion picture in industrial arts. Demonstrations in shop classes have long been considered the outstanding method of instruction. In recent years, however, proponents of the motion picture have reiterated the potentialities of film as teaching media. Much educational philosophy and classroom procedure seems to be based on informational experimentation and observation by the teacher. It was the writer's desire to go a step farther and scientifically compare the two media. An experiment was planned and executed in a classroom situation wherein film and teacher demonstrations were used to teach identical items of technical matter in the field of electricity. Both of these methods were compared to traditional textbook methods. The results of the experiment should prove to be interesting to industrial arts teachers, teacher trainers, and others concerned with technical instruction of an abstract nature.
