Elementary School Biology via Television

The birth of a bat, a snake hatching from its egg, a baby deer nursing from its mother, bull moose fighting, or the fertilization of an egg-these are a few of the natural dramas that have been watched by 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students in the New England area last fall. To see these things the children didn’t have to leave their classroom or desert their teacher for all these adventures were part of “Exploring Nature,” an experimental television program. This series of 30 half-hour programs was produced by the Natural Science Television Project, an organization composed of the Children’s Museum of Boston, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and “The 21″ Classroom” of WGHB-TV. Funds were provided by the member organizations and also by a study grant made available to the School of Education of Boston University through the U. S. Office of Education in connection with a study of the educational results of the project. The programs themselves were produced under the supervision of the Education Department of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The aim of the project was to teach elementary school students the principles of biology. Such principles as the flow of energy in the organism and in the community, evolution, animal behavior, and the structure and function of living organisms were stressed throughout all the programs. The television programs generally dealt with a single topic, but each program was related both to the ones that preceded and followed it. This gave the student a chance to continually review the material already presented and thereby get a unified picture of biology. The television teacher was Prof. William H. Weston. A Harvard professor of many years’ standing, he continues to enliven the teaching of biology and to share his enthusiasm with young and old alike. By making extensive use of live animals and plants, film, special art work, carefully designed props, and other materials, “Cap” Weston was able to keep the children interested in the subject without resorting to gimmicks such as may be found on some commercial programs. It would be disastrous if the programs were dull, but fortunately live material, being unpredictable, is never dull; by using it and much other visual material, the student’s interest was tightly held.