THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF TALKING MOTION PICTURES* EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is a stenographic report of a talk deliwered by Dr. Richmond as an introduction to the demonstration of oil films on water by Dr. Irving Langmuir, associate director of the Research Laboratory of the General Electric Company. It isfronz a talking motion picture produced by the Motion Picture Department of the General Electric Company with RCA-Photofihone equipment.
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I suppose very few doubt that there is certain educational value in moving pictures. On the other hand, I fancy it is safe to say that very few realize the immense possibilities of the motion picture. We have here an instrument which not only can impart and disseminate useful knowledge, but which can, and often does, stimulate a deeper desire for knowledge. The beautiful thing about it is that it introduces the element of personality, and we must never forget that behind all this knowledge of ours, there is always some person, some patient investigator, who has gone deep into the secrets of his subject and brought out treasures which, but for him, might still remain unknown to the world. There are no doubt exceptions to this, but, as a rule, ".....ITINTRODUCES THli ELEMliNT OR whenever any man becomes wise PBRSDNALITY," in any subject it is because he has had the instruction of a good teacher. When Garfield described a college as "Mark Hopkins a t one end of a log and the student a t the other," he was only saying something that has been perfectly understood, and had been from the first. We have only to think of Jesus and his disciples, the schools of Athens and the Peripatetic philosophers who walked about teaching with their students following. All through the Middle Ages the students followed wherever the teacher went. As a beautiful illustration of this, something like 800 years ago, Abelard was driven from Paris, partly perhaps because of the jealousy of the doctors, and partly because of his complications with Heloise. At all events, he went off into the wilderness of Champagne and built himself a hut of reeds and mud, and determined to live there alone. But he was not
* The picture, of which this talk is a part, is that shown before the Division of Chemical Education at the Columbus meeting of the A. C. S., May 1, 1929. 848
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left alone. Thousands of his disciples went with him and covered the place with their tents and their mud huts, in order that they might be near their beloved teacher. What they wanted was not easy courses, or college athletics, or fine buildings; they wanted Abelard; to them amud hut with Abelard was more of a university than the University of Paris without him. Now, to a certain extent a t least, this happens today. The serious student goes to college to come into contact with some famous teacher. The trouble is, there are not enough teachers to go round. We have some six hundred colleges and universities in this country. I n how many of these can be found even one man who is outstanding in any one subject? Naturally, these rare men gravitate to universities where the resources are more ample and where they have more to work with. Very often they work in private laboratories or in laboratories connected with our great industrial organizations. The result is that very few ever come into contact with these men. The influence they have is confined to their writings or to some impersonal interest. Now here is where this wonderful invention comes in. We are able to bring an unlimited number of students into contact with TO EKING A N UNLIMITED NUMBER OF these great teachers' They can STUDENTS INTO CONTACT WITH THESE OREAT not only hear them and see TEACHERS." them, but actually, to a degree, can come under the influence of their personality. What would we not give if we could bring before us old Archimedes, hear his voice, and see his face, or Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, or Pascal? This, of course, cannot be, but what we cannot do for them, we can bring to our living sons. We shall bring the student into the presence of Rutherford, J. J. Thompson, MiUikan, Mme. Curie, and others: they shall see their faces, watch their changing expressions, hear their voices, see their intimate gestures, and all the personal characteristics which go to make up that subtle thing which we call personality. When I was asked to see this picture which you shall presently see, I was doubtful lest the mechanism would be so obtrusive that the personality would be lost, yet in this I was agreeably disappointed. I t was obvious to me at once that we have here an instrument of amazing possibilities, especially in the teaching of science. In one respect, a t
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least, i t is superior to the classroom lecturer. By close-ups, you can see the experiment more clearly. There is no doubt in my mind that the possibilities are perfectly unlimited. What will it not mean to the school and college away off in the interior to be able to bring their students into the presence of these great masters in their various fields, men about whom they had heard and whose works they have read, but whom they had never hoped, even in their wildest dreams, to see or to hear?
