THIS'LL TEACH YOU

My thanks to the correspondent who called to my attention this item from The How and Why Wonder Book of Robots and Electronic Brains (first published 1963, this text from a later edition):

[CLASSROOM SCENE]

The Teaching Machine

Machines play chess, compose beau­tiful music, do diff­icult mathe­matical prob­lems, and have shown that they can learn from expe­rience. We also have machines that teach. At first these teach­ing machines were built espe­cially for the purpose, now we can use the com­puter for linking video­scopes in the class­room to a central com­puter. In Chicago there are over 100 video­scopes lo­cated in seven schools linked to the central com­puter. In the Bronx, New York City, there is even a robot called LEUCHIM helping out.

What does a teaching machine look like?

If your school does not already have teach­ing ma­chines, you may not have seen one. These robots are rather simple looking and quite harm­less. In most cases, they are just metal or plastic boxes with two windows in them, and a few knobs or push­buttons here and there.

To operate most teach­ing ma­chines, you press a button and it brings your first ques­tion into view in one of the windows. Then you write your answer on the paper ex­posed by a small window near the top of the machine. When you press the button again to get the correct answer, a shield covers your answer, making it im­possible to change it.

Now, press the button again to get your next ques­tion. As it appears, your answer to the pre­vious ques­tion slides out of view, the shield dis­appears, and you have a clear paper area to write on again.

THE TEACHING MACHINE
(TMI‐GROLIER’S MIN/MAX)

[TM]

How does a teaching machine “teach”?

The teaching machine teaches you your lessons in the same way we teach a machine to learn. The pro­grammer (your teacher) puts a pro­gramme (your lesson) into the machine (the input) and you (like the com­puter) process that ma­terial. You study the ques­tion, reach inside your memory ele­ment, and come out with the correct answer — you hope. This, like the com­puter, is your output.

By having the lesson fed to you rather slowly and well‐planned, you learn by trial and error, just like a machine. If you make a mistake, the teacher pushes the “goof” button, but, unlike a machine, your punish­ment may be to stay after school.

[FIG1]

Close‐up of the part of the teach­ing machine that con­tains the ques­tion and at the lower right­hand corner your answer. On the illus­tration below it you see the next ques­tion and your check of the answer for the pre­vious one.

[FIG2]

Can machines replace teachers?

Teaching machines will not replace teach­ers. But, pro­grammed learn­ing, as this type of teach­ing is called, will help the teacher to teach better. These ma­chines will also help to solve the teacher short­age by allow­ing larger classes. Since pupils using these devices require little super­vision from the teacher, she has more time to give special help or to do other class­room tasks.

We can also use the com­puter as a teach­ing machine. This is called CAI or Com­puter Aided Instruc­tion. Instead of a teach­ing machine we use a video­scope. The com­puter can hold a wide variety of teach­ing ma­terial and make it avail­able to pupils in several classes at once. It can also keep a record of how well you are doing and let the teacher have a note of it. In this way it will help the teacher even more than the teach­ing machine.