Mr. GWINN. You were impressed that this might speed up learning in science particularly where the need seems to be most pressing? Mr. ELLIOTT. I am convinced of it, Mr. Gwinn. I was very much impressed with these lessons in physics they showed us.

Mr. Harvey White's film is out now. They showed us in this committee room portions of lessons. I am convinced it will greatly speed up the learning process in physics.

I understand they are doing the same thing in chemistry but they have not yet completed the filming of this instruction.

Did he say, Mr. Sneed, there was another course they were working on now?

Mr. SNEED. I do not recall, sir.

Mr. GWINN. Has the report of the committee's journey to Hagerstown been made part of the record? Is that material available at all?

Mr. ELLIOTT. The report will be included in the hearings.

Mr. GWINN. It would be well to have a summation from that journey by someone on the committee. Do you agree with that?

Mr. ELLIOTT. I agree with the gentleman from New York that we should have the record show we spent that day observing what was in progress there.

(Report referred to appears at end of this day's hearing.)

They started about a year and a half ago there and their intention is to spread this closed circuit television instruction to all the schools in the county.

My recollection is that there were about 40 schools in the county and 22 of them now have closed circuit television instruction emanating from a central studio which they built in back of the school. We attended classes in several schools.

I noted particularly that the children seemed very much interested. When the teacher came to a point where she was going to show a particular course, and one of the courses we saw was a course in plane geometry, when she came to the point where the plane geometry picture course was to come on everyone apparently became very intently interested.

This was live television. The central teacher expounded a problem on the television screen and the students observed the problem.

Following that questions were asked by the regular teacher after the television lesson was completed.

I asked one of the teachers who was not on our scheduled tour, a teacher who was the principal of one of the schools, what she thought about it. She told me that she thought television instructions had speeded up the process of learning among her students.

Mr. GWINN. I think that was a good day you spent out there observing this instruction. It might be significant in connection with our hearings last year on new classrooms. If that type of instruction is good and if it is the coming thing, then we will have different classroom problems from those we had last year. We will require different classrooms from those we might have erected last year.

Mr. Stoddard indicated in his book that those classrooms might be out of date before the classrooms were completely built.

If there is anything in the observation or in the reports on that subject I would like to have a note made in the record as to the observations brought out in that connection.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Very well.

Mr. GWINN. I suppose the television rooms were much larger than the regular classrooms?

Mr. ELLIOTT. They were regular classrooms but this system of television instruction was given in a building already in existence.

If you were constructing a building suitable for television instruction I can see how it might be entirely possible that you would merge the larger group to get the picture instruction and then break them down into smaller classes to complete their drills and examinations. That is something I do not know much about, however. I do not know what works best in that regard.

Mr. GWINN. I think leaving the record open for statements to be made and developed during the recess will cover some of these items which might need more testimony. I refer especially to testimony on television.

Mr. ELLIOTT. We will invite Mr. Stoddard to submit a statement. He once wrote us that he could not come and had to be out of the country.

We will tell Mr. Stoddard that we have discussed his knowledge in this field and would like to have him submit a statement to us for the record if he feels it is possible for him to do so.

Mr. GWINN. He came from Beatrice, Nebr., to teach college. He thought he would be superintendent of schools in Bronxville. He rose very rapidly. We could not keep him long in that little village. He went to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and into most of the large school systems in the country.

He is now with the Ford Foundation having to do with this very subject matter at this time.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Off the record.

(Discussion held off the record.)

(Report referred to was subsequently supplied and follows:)

REPORT ON CLOSED-CIRCUIT EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION EXPERIMENT, HAGERSTOWN,

MD.

Members of the Committee on Education and Labor observed the closed-circuit education television experiment of the Washington County schools, Hagerstown, Md., on March 17, 1958. Those present were Graham A. Barden, chairman; Carl Elliott, chairman of the Subcommittee on Special Education; Frank Thompson, Edith Green, Stewart Udall, George McGovern, and Robert Griffin. Also present were Mary P. Allen, clerk of the Subcommittee on Special Education, and Charles Backstrom.

Title X of H. R. 10381, by Mr. Eliott, under consideration by the subcommittee, proposes Federal action to stimulate research and development in the educational use of modern communications media. Title V of H. R. 10381 would provide funds for mathematics, science, and modern foreign language teaching facilities. Title III of H. R. 10278, by Mr. Kearns, provides funds which might be used by States for mathematics and science instructional facilities.

The purposes in observing the program in Hagerstown were as follows: 1. To examine the cooperative arrangement between the school district, private corporations, public utilities, and the Fund for the Advancement of Education, who are conducting this full-scale experiment.

2. To see the types of equipment needed for preparation, production, and reception of educational television.

3. To observe classes where closed-circuit television is being received, noting the effects of television on the quality of instruction, class size, and building design.

4. To observe or evaluate the potentiality of using other audiovisual materials in connection with television for their more efficient use.

5. To talk with the superintendent, principals, and students regarding attitudes, effects, and possibilities of educational television.

6. To observe the present state of the art and estimate the need for further developments by stimulation of research in this medium.

7. To check on community reaction to educational television.

8. To discuss with administrators and sponsors the changes produced by educational television which hold promise for increasing the efficienty of the teaching and learning process.

PROJECT ORGANIZATION

Four organizations are primarily concerned with the project. The entire operation is under the control of the Board of Education of Washington County. The board provides the instructional staff. The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland, with the technical advice of the Bell Laboratories, developed the system of communication for transmitting telecasts to classrooms. The Electronic Industry Association has secured all of the equipment, including receivers for the classrooms. The Fund for the Advancement of Education has underwritten the cost of designing, training for, and operating of the project.

A board of education of 6 members serves all 48 schools in the county, William M. Brish is the superintendent of schools. In 1956, eight schools were equipped to handle television. During the school year 1957-58, 23 schools are in the closed-circuit. This means that approximately 12,000 children are receiving a part of their instruction by television each day. In the fall of 1958, all 48 schools with 18,000 boys and girls will be included in the circuit.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

The members of the Board of Education of Washington County and its staff in planning a new senior high school felt that any new construction should include facilities for the effective use of television. They began a study of what to install in the way of conduits, duct work, and flexible space in order to take advantage of future developments. Their study convinced them that television offered tremendous possibilities for improving instruction. Inquiries directed to building construction consultants, education consultants, manufacturers, commercial television groups, and agencies interested in the advancement of education serve the double purpose of securing information and making known the local interest in using television for instruction.

The Hagerstown project was approved May 24, 1956. Numerous experiments have been conducted throughout the country to test the effectiveness of television as an instructional device. It is evident that the results, while fragmentary and incomplete, indicate great potential for televised instruction.

The experiment in Washington County schools includes the following: Direct instruction of pupils in the basic subject matter offerings of the curriculum; supplemental motivation and enrichment of the program wherever feasible; extension of the inservice training program of teachers; interpretation of the school program to the public; and improvement in the quality of the school program. Data is being gathered to evaluate the effectiveness of television in meeting such current educational problems as the enhancing of the status of teaching; the relation of pupil-teacher ratio to the quality of instruction; the continuation of rapidly increasing enrollments; the lack of adequate classroom space; the shortage of properly trained and certified teachers; the organization of the school system to effect savings in personnel; the distribution of the finances available for the school program; and greater use of school, community, and county

The grades and subjects included in the project for the 1957-58 school year

In

In elementary schools all instruction by television is received in regular classrooms on 21-inch screens. In junior high schools a plan is being tried whereby children are in large viewing groups for a part of their instruction. senior high schools classes are somewhat larger than usual when a part of the instruction is by television. Multiple receivers must be used in these rooms. Nowhere in the project is any self-contained television teaching-without a regular teacher in the room-being carried on.

A program of evaluation of results is being designed as the project continues.

INSTRUCTION BY TELEVISION

Up to the present, all telecasting has originated at the television center of the board of education. It will be possible, when equipment is available, to originate lessons from the North Hagerstown High School, the South Hagerstown High School, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, and the Washington County Free Library.

The method of sending the picture and sound of the lessons to the schools is rather unique. The lessons originate in an area much like the conventional broadcast television studios. Multicamera situations are used to provide a variety of predetermined shots portraying the ideas which the teacher wishes to use. An ordinary microphone is used for the audio pickup. Pictures and sound from films, or pictures from slides can be added to the lessons as desired.

The video and audio signals are carried by coaxial line to transmitters installed by the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. These transmitters distribute the signals over coaxial lines to all of the schools in the circuit. By using transmitters operating on different frequencies, it is practical to send several programs simultaneously over the cable. Programs are currently being transmitted on channels 2, 4, and 6. Equipment has been installed at regular intervals to overcome line loss as signals are transmitted along the cable. The signals are therefore maintained at sufficient strength to service the schools around the circuit. Additional amplifiers, however, have been installed in each school to again strengthen the signal before it is sent throughout the building to furnish the sets with enough signal for good viewing.

Sets in the classroom are tuned to the channel on which the program is supplied. This system makes it possible to use regular television equipment without modification. Since standard equipment is less costly than custommade equipment, this is a considerable advantage.

Junior college students are employed on an hourly basis to operate cameras and assist with the production of the lessons.

OBSERVATIONS

The following observations about using closed-circuit television for instruction have been made by the Board of Education of Washington County. First of all, the project has provided stimulating motivation for the professional advancement of teachers. It is increasing interest in the teaching process and is making teachers more aware of the opportunities for improving instruction. The television teachers feel that television is providing many advantages, some examples of which are:

1. The television screen gives the teacher direct control of the attention of the pupil. It provides an effective fixation point for group instruction. Lessons are planned to utilize this effect.

3. Visuals help explain the ideas of the lesson. They are developed for use under controlled conditions. Developing ideas for effective visuals is a creative experience that is having a wholesome effect on teacher morale and enthusiasm. 3. The television camera can greatly magnify a small part of the area to be shown. This is especially effective when presenting a closeup of the action that is taking place in a demonstration. In this way, the pupil can actually see better what is happening than if he were present in person for the demonstration. Every seat in the classroom becomes a front-row seat.

4. The television teacher looks at the camera and immediately is looking straight into the eyes of each pupil who is watching. This seems to have a psychological effect that causes the pupil to give close attention to what is happening.

Apart from technical advantages, the television teachers have more time to plan the lessons and prepare materials. This is a tremendous advantage and the television teachers are noting an improvement in the quality of their lessons as they become more aware of the factors that make for more effective teaching. Teachers are receiving great satisfaction from having the opportunity to develop their ideas and plan creative activities. To do this, the television teachers are relieved of all other instruction responsibility. They visit the several classrooms peridically to establish personal acquaintance with the students.

The following are successful examples of ideas developed by the television teachers: Using two channels to teach geometry, one channel for constant reference to the problem and figure, the other for solving the problem; using elastic bands on pegboards to create geometric figures; fading in and out the important words or sentences that help explain the action taking place; constructing charts and models with movable parts that explain the ideas being presented; using a magnetic board for developing a lesson; originating a "capsule classroom" of a few representative pupils for a class discussion project; using puppets to present an idea; developing special three-dimensional visuals to illustrate such concepts as balance of trade, political party platforms, foundations of Federal Government, growth of the tariff; interviewing citizens of the community who are engaged in representative occupations or professions. At the end of the first year of the use of television in the instructional program, certain ideas that are tentative and inconclusive seemed to stand out rather clearly in the opinion of the board of education.

1. Television provides a situation where students' attention is concentrated on a selected area at close range.

2. The use of television provides an opportunity to redeploy the efforts and energies of teachers for the benefit of students and teachers without increasing instructional costs. Sometimes costs can be reduced. In the city's junior high schools, during the school year 1957-58, 7.24 fewer teachers are being used than would ordinarily be the case with 1,581 boys and girls enrolled. In terms of the average teacher's salary, there is a resulting saving of $37,648.

3. The use of television enables specialized instruction to be brought into classrooms in practical ways. Music and art are being satisfactorily taught in the elementary schools. By September 1958, when all schools are included, 3.4 teachers will present lessons from television studios that would otherwise require 33 teachers. This represents instructional benefits in the amount of $171,600 for an expenditure of $17,680. This is not an actual financial saving but it does represent an enrichment of the program for all boys and girls with a comparatively minimum expenditure. The per-pupil cost of instruction by television will be $1.71 as compared with $16.78, the cost of face-to-face traditional classroom instruction.

4. The use of television enables resource people in the community to be brought to all children in the system. For example, in a recent guidance telecast a highly