A Study of the Learning and Retention of Materials Presented by Lecture and by Silent Film
Clarence D. Jayne · The Journal of Educational Research · 1944
The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) the informational gains made by pupils listening to a lecture, as compared with gains made from seeing a silent motion picture presenting the same material, and (2) the retention of the informational gains made by the two methods of presenta tion over varying periods of time from three weeks to fifteen weeks. With the renewed interest in visual education in recent years there has been considerable emphasis placed upon the importance of the visual approach to teaching. Many studies give consistent evidence that pupils make greater gains when visual materials are used. In considering teaching methods it is important to know whether these greater gains are due pri marily to the visual presentation alone, or to the visual presentation plus other activities such as teacher preparation and follow-up, pupil discussion, etc. If the visual presentation alone is responsible for the effectiveness of teaching procedures, based on the use of pictures, then teachers would be justified in the mere showing of pictures. If, on the other hand, it is found that the mere showing of pictures does not seem to be an effective teaching procedure, then teachers need to be much concerned with the teaching devices used to supplement the seeing experience. It must be kept in mind that this study is not a comparison of the visual method and the lecture method. As the study is described it will be apparent that it is rather a comparison of one way of using silent motion pictures (the mere showing of the pictures with no supplementary pro cedures) with a lecture method which included the use of such visual materials as blackboard diagrams, etc.