EQUIPMENT FOR BIBLE CLASSES—By W. W. Freeman
EQUIPMENT FOR BIBLE CLASSES---By W. W. Freeman
EQUIPMENT FOR BIBLE CLASSES
W. W. Freeman
(Note: As of May 2018, Info In this discussion may not be accurate or as useful)
1. How to Start.
Start using what you have. If you can make your lesson more understandable, use a map or chart with this definite purpose in mind. Make an inventory of all materials and equipment you can find, whether in the classrooms or in the homes. The simplest apparatus is the best if it will get the job done. Let those in charge of the work know what you are trying to do and see what they have or will get that will help your instructional work. A few stereographs on the subject in hand will add much to the small classes. A large picture, suitable chart, or diagram you make will be of definite value. Let your pupils know what you have in mind and they can help you. Some of them will have pictures, illustrated books, slides or even a movie. Anything that will contribute to the interest and understanding is what you want.
2. The Opaque Projector.
The small class can utilize chalkboard, tackboard, bulletin board, flat pictures, felt board, objects, specimens, maps, and even letters about places of current interest. Smaller materials require an opaque projector to throw them on the screen or wall so all in the room can see at the time and the teacher or student can point out the items of interest. The opaque projector can be used to show real objects and to make enlargements, drawings, and maps, whether on screen, on the board, or cardboard as posters. Such class activities can be shared. Audio-visual aids are aids; they are not sub-stitutes nor are they automatic. They motivate instruction. Mounted materials and printed materials or pictures (up to 8^ x 11 inches) can be used in the newer type opaques. An opaque projector can be shared from time to time throughout the entire school.
3. The Filmstrip-Slide Combination.
Several com-panies have on the market, at around a hundred dollars, a light-weight projector that shows 2x2 slides and 35mm filmstrips in natural colors. Get one with a fan on it to keep your slides cool. There is more material available at reasonable prices for this than for other machines. With this projector, the pupil or teacher can present to the class nearly anything in our world today. Less blackout is required with transparent slides and filmstrips than for opaque materials on an opaque projector. Slides cost 25c up, filmstrips one to three dollars. Color slides are easily made.
4. Recorders and Other Sound Aids.
Tape recorders are much used today in preparing materials for broadcast by radio. Thirty minutes to two hours of material can be readily recorded and then played back as and when desired. Materials can be recorded on special occasions or from radio and filed away for later use as desired. The newer disc recorder is good if the pupils wish to make short recordings to take home and to reproduce on an inexpensive playback. Both types can be had with public address feature for class use. For reading and speech as well as music, debate, and sermon these recorders are invaluable. Centralized sound has its use in any larger system of educational work.
5. Overhead Projection.
Keystone and Beseler have this type of apparatus. Rooms but slightly dimmed can be used since the projector is near the screen and has a powerful lamp. The Keystone takes all sorts of slides up to 3^ x 4 inches, and the Beseler takes materials up to ten by ten inches. Typed slides, photographic slides, color slides, and other home-made materials are used with the overhead. The teacher is seated and can face the class, observe the slide, and point out the items of interest as the pupils look at the screen. A certain amount of action or drawing is feasible. The Keystone overhead shows microscopic slides revealing for the whole class all the details seen in a powerful microscope. It is also used to increase speed and span for reading. Microscopic slides are cheap and give valuable scientific data.
6. Motion Pictures.
Each type of apparatus has its own special advantages. The sound movie is the last word for depicting motion, presenting drama, and showing the several stages of sequence in nature or art. The 8 mm projector is much used in homes and for small groups and the 16mm for school purposes. Since the power of the motion picture is great, it is important that in religious instruction there should be very careful selection from the hundreds of available films. All materials must be authentic if students are to learn the truth rather than error. The recent addition of magnetic recording to the motion picture projector now enables the teacher to make his own sound recording and use it rather than the sound (music and speech) regularly found on a film. Time limit forbids speaking further.