SCHOOLS BROADCASTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 402, 7 March 1947, Page 25

SCHOOLS BROADCASTS

BBG Educational Series for 1947

Zealand is compelled to use, as part of its curriculum, the broadcasts to schools by the NZBS, increasing numbers have welcomed radio in the classroom in the last four or five years. It is solely for the teachers to decide whether the broadcasting aid shall be used, and, according to Jean Combs, officer-in-charge of these broadcasts, a large proportion of teachers are now taking advantage of it. Included in the NZBS schools’ programme are book reviews, music appreciation, neWs talks, nature study, literature, and science; each talk is prepared by an expert. The 1947 series started this month. "T no schoel in New This year, music appreciation (conducted by Ernest Jenner) follows the lines of the last two years. On Mondays, at 1.30 p.m., there is a quarter of an hour of explanatory listening, and on Fridays a further similar period of recapitulatory listening. The year’s plan is based on the Music Appreciation Scheme for Post Primary Schools, and is presented so as to be of value to Forms I and II in primary schools. Scripts from the BBC In each of the last four years the BBC has broadcast an experimental series on pre-history under the title of How Things Began. The object of the series was to satisfy the curiosity of children about early stages of life on earth and the story of man. The broadcasts were amended in the light of experience, and in 1945-46 a new serial was broadcast. The scripts of this latter service were obtained from the BBC, produced by the NZBS, and are set down for broadcasting at 1.40 p.m. on Tuesdays throughout 1947, Many of them were written by Rhoda Power, whose Kingsway Histories for juniors are well known in New Zealand. The teaching device will be two children, a boy of 13, and a girl of 10, and a grown-up interested in geology and excavation, who answers their questions about how things began, The adult’s part is to give information on points which had not occurred to the children, and illustrate his remarks by pretending to be an observer who returns to the past, making a running commentary on what he sees. Each episode is complete, though the same people appear in each one, so that teachers may select programmes which fit in with their own schemes, A comprehensive survey and detailed notes of each broadcast will be published in the geheral booklet issued by the NZBS and available only to teachers in schools. It is suggested in the broadcast that children might keep a book of the adventures of the observer. George, the boy in the serial, being very grown-up, writes notes} the girl, Alice, illustrates her book with coloured chalk drawings. In the first six broadcasts the main evolutionary theme is the conquest of the land, first by early land plants, then by those fishes that acquired lungs and legs and became amphibia, some of which, in their turn, evolved into the first reptiles, with their complete adaptation to land life. And the last few broadcasts will show how some mammals

surpassed the rest in skill of hand and eye, and by their power to learn by experience. This will be followed in the second term by an explanation of what early man did with his wits and how he made a series of discoveries which enabled him to live very differently from all other animals. Then, in the third term, on Tuesdays, from 1.40 to 2.0 p.m., listenrs will hear the story of the rich ancient communities and of the westward spread of civilisation, through the backwoods of forested Europe to Britain. Talks by Crosbie Morrison In the Junior Naturalist Club session, conducted by Crosbie Morrison, there will be talks on wild life in Australia and New Zealand, broadcast on Wednesdays from 1.45 to 2.0 p.m. At the same time on Fridays, science talks will be conducted by J. D. MacDonald, presenting the child with a simple conception of the working of his senses and of his nervous system. Talks on New Zealand river-valleys by C. N. Watson will show the development of town and industry and its relation to geographical situation. The valleys selected are widely-spaced over New Zealand, so that as many dif-

fering occupations as possible can be discussed. _ Intended as an introduction to the work of a number of writers and artists of the last 100 years, a literature series, called Do You Know? will be conducted in the third term by Patricia Hattaway and Patricia Dennehy, on Fridays, from 1.40 to 2.0 p.m. And for young dramatists, a talk by Elsie Lloyd, on how to produce a play, will be included in the sessions.