Persons are looking for convenient ways to find training, information, and courses of study to upgrade their skills and understanding We think the broadcasting system that has already tapped some billion dollars of the Public Treasury to create is an excellent and cost-effective mechanism for providing some of what is required It is very clear that technology as a component in providing training and information is no substitute for teachers, and good teachers, teachers teach, machines don't. However, teachers need good tools, and we think that it is terribly important that in a field as complex as this, as rapidly changing as this, and as difficult to present as this, that we take full advantage of the media that are available to us to present difficult and complex concepts. What we recommend, Mr Chairman, is that your committee consider a twofold plan. One, support for reinvigorating the public understanding of science program within the National Science Foundation A television series such as "Nova", “3-2-1-Contact," which in its first season was seen by 22 million children in this country, and a series on the human brain that we currently are producing in conjunction with Scientific America are only possible because of funds initially provided by the NSF's public understanding of science program The diminution of that program simultaneously with cutbacks in public television's appropriation mean that our ability to provide a comparable level of programing in the future is diminished unless there are funds available for that purpose. Second, we do have resources in place that can be used to provide and fashion instructional tools for use in schools and for teacher training One example is a course we will be offering nationally this coming fall that will be an introduction to computers, aimed at teachers, and providing them with skills that they would not otherwise have a chance to gain on a person-by-person basis. There are two million elementary and secondary teachers in this country; all of them need to know more about the microcomputer; we think we have a cost-efficient way to help them gain the understanding they need Finally, Mr. Chairman, we believe that the funds that are necessary to leverage this kind of instructional activity and attention should be provided in a way yes, that encourages localism but that also encourages collaboration across district school lines, and yes across State lines. Even in a State the size of New York, the cost of preparing high-quality materials, the sort that make best use of media and that increasingly allow the student and the teacher to "talk back" or interact with it, are frequently beyond present budg ets If there are not provisions for funds to be aggregated across district lines and across State lines, and indeed encouragement of that form of aggregation, it is our concern that the material prepared will be of the least common denominator form, or will be of less high quality than are required to make plain and helpful complex ideas of science. We think, in conclusion, that we have broadcast and production resources in place that can be very helpful in solving the scientific literacy problem that confronts this country. We urge that the Testimony Stephen Salyer, Vice President and Director, Educational Division on behalf of the National Association of Public Television Stations before the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities April 8, 1983 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to describe the potential of educational television for fulfilling some of the critical objectives of the emergency science and mathematics legislative proposals pending before your Subcommittee. My name is Stephen Salyer and I am Vice President and Director of the Educational Division of public television station WNET/THIRTEEN in New York. I am testifying on behalf of WNET, the nation's largest single public television station, and for the other public television stations throughout the country who form the membership of the National Association of Public Television Stations (KAPTS). We share your concern and are committed to helping solve the problems you are debating today. This country is in a critical state--one requiring a growing pool of skilled educators, as well as students, becoming interested in and excelling in science and mathematics. But, just the reverse is occurring. Unfortunately, science and math teachers increasingly are leaving the field for more lucrative positions with industry. There has been a dramatic decline in the number of new science and math teachers trained annually by our colleges and universities. Both student enrollment in high school science and math courses and student achievement levels in these fields are declining. Only half of our high schools are able to offer science and math courses beyond the tenth grade. And, according to the 1982 report of the National Science Teachers Association, only half of the newly hired science and math teachers are qualified to teach these subjects. 21-190 - 3 - 4° We are attempting to answer these concerns. In public television, over 90% of our stations today provide instructional programming for elementary and secondary classrooms or credit courses for colleges and universities. Over 15 million school children are regular users of the instructional television programming; the yearly cost per pupil is substantially less than the price of a single textbook. Over 55,000 students at more than 550 colleges and universities enrolled in the first year of the PBS Adult Learning Service. Those institutions of higher education participating in the adult program receive full tuition payments from students but their cost of providing the courses is quite low, in the range of $20 to $40 per enrollee. These courses have proved popular with students due to the quality and convenience of offerings made through stations and cooperating institutions of higher learning. This pattern of local station-college collaboration has now proven its cost-effectiveness in providing undergraduate, graduate and in-service courses. For example, 65% of the engineering graduate degrees in South Carolina are conferred to telecourse students and about 6,000 have benefited from Kentucky's inservice Master's Degree telecourse program. Central to the effective design and acceptance of these courses is the experience of public television, on a limited budget, in producing programs in collaboration with master teachers. These programs are increasingly successful in combining sound instructional design with program formats that capture and sustain the interest of students. They also enable the presentation of concepts and dynamic processes difficult to illustrate on a blackboard or in a two-dimensional textbook diagram. Using animation, television can show a synapse firing in the brain, or can present an experiment beyond the reach of students in any but the most sophisticated laboratory settings. In such ways, scientific process and method can be revealed in an accurate and stimulating manner, encouraging further engagement and investigation. Such visual presentations can prove particularly useful when connected with classroom activities available to students following viewing. Accordingly, a number of our stations are experimenting with ways to integrate television viewing and use of computer software into more traditional patterns of instruction. New video technologies also show promise as educational tools. Two of our stations are experimenting with the educational uses of teletext. Teachers involved in the experiments report that the interactive aspect of the keyboard/television screen material has a strong motivational effect on their students, particularly when used intensively. They have witnessed dramatic turn-arounds in the attitudes and achievements of kids who previously had little interest in learning or had not responded to traditional teaching methods. Two other stations are pilot testing interactive cable and videodisc technologies for college level courses. One of these courses is "The Physics of Structure," a college physics course which features individually-tailored instruction. Although existing programs have been well received and widely used, and the experiments with use of new technologies encouraging, the ability to pursue these efforts on a major scale has been extremely limited. Of the over 150 series distributed by the Agency for Instructional Television (AIT), for example, only 18 are science oriented and only six concern math skills. Moreover, most of this programming is limited to once a week series of 15 or 20 minutes each and targeted at the elementary level. Only a few courses have been designed for learners at the junior high level and there are virtually no courses to meet the needs of high school math and science teachers and their students. High quality, educationally-sound computer software is extremely scarce, and the cost of developing materials that combine the best attributes of video, print, and computer software is well beyond the reach of even the largest school districts. |