PUB DATE 73 NOTE 9P.; See Also ED 070 250, ED 070 251, EM 011 355, EM 011 358 and EM -011 360

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 079 988 EM 011 359

TITLE Background Material on National Instructional Television, Bloomington, Ind.. INSTITUTION National Instructional Television Center, Bloomington, Ind. PUB DATE 73 NOTE 9p.; See Also ED 070 250, ED 070 251, EM 011 355, EM 011 358 and EM -011 360

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Affective Behavior; *Consortia; *Educational Television; *Elementary Grades; Emotional Development; *Films; Newsletters; Student Attitudes; *Televised InstruCtion IDENTIFIERS Images and Things; Inside/Out; National Instructional Television Center; NIT; Ripples

ABSTRACT Six separate pieces of information comprise this packet of background material on the Natiohal Instructional Television Center (NUCT)..Two brief descriptive statements provide an overview of the history and current operation of NIT and a summary of the consortium concept as it has-been utilized ty the Center to produce three series-of films--"Ripples," "Images and Things,"-and "Inside /Out.! Following this-is a listing of the more than 30 agencies which cooperated to produce "Inside/Out"..Lastly, articles from "The New York Times," "TV Guide," and "The Washington-Post" discuss "Inside/Out", a 30 episode series milich takes. an effective approach to the emotional health and well-being of eight-to-ten-year olds._Each of the 15 minute films deals with emotions and attitudes toward death, love, responsibility, or some other subject not usually addressed in the' schools..Contrasting pointstof view are depicted, with it being left to teachers and pupils to resolve the issues raised. (P13) FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY

Illowi from

ATNational Instructional U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE Television Center NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO OUCEO EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM Co- THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS . CO STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE 111:57 SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 01" EOUCATION POSITION OR POLICY ) CO BACKGROUND MATERIAL 1=) ON

NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION

BLOOMINGTON, IND.

The National Instructional Television Center is a nonprofit

organization that seeks to strengthen education by developing,

acquiring, or adapting television and related materials for wide

use as major learning resources.

Founded in 1962, NIT has its main offices An Bloomington, Ind.

and regional offices in Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Francisco and

Washington, D. C.

Through 1967, NIT, with the support of the United States Office

of Education, worked on demonstrating that a national agency pro-

viding recorded instructional television programs would be a Loon

to education and prove economically feasible.

Until 1965 the activity was administered by the National Educational

and Radio Center (NET) in New York City, and the organization was

known as the National Instructional Television Library (NITL).

Box A, Bloomington, Indiana 47401 112 1 339 -2203 NIT baCkgA:ound

NITL moved to Bloomington in 1965 and began operation as the National

Center for School and College Television (NCSCT) under the sponsor-

ship of the Indiana University-Foundation. In 1967, after complet-

ing the USOE demonstration, it was renamed the National Instructional

Television Center. The I.U. Foundation provided partial support until 1970, when NIT became self-supporting.

NIT has undertaken a-unique method of helping finance its newest' series, enlisting the support of Exxon Corporation for the production of teacher guides and utilization materials to be used in conjunction with the programs. It marks the first time that a private corporation has helped fund a project specifically designed for use by school

television. News from...

National Instructional Television Center

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THECONSORTIUM CONCEPT

Developed by

NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION'

The consortium concept was developed by the National Instructional

Television Center (NIT) in the late 1960's when it became apparent

that no one agency -- national, state, regional, or local -- could

command the resources to produce on a regular basis the kindand

amount of classroom television needed to strengthen American

education.

Under the NIT plan, interested agencies pool their financial,

technical, and intellectual resources to create series of the

.highest quality that serve both local and national needs. The

member agencies share not may the expenses of production but also

the advantages of being part of the creation of series that no

single member could have afforded, of unlimited rights to the

materials, and of greater flexibility in their utilization.

-more-

Box A, Bloomington, Indiana 47401 112 1 339-2202 -2-

In the first NIT-organized consortium,14 agencies came together to develop "Ripples," the earlychildhood education series that deals with human values, feelings, andrelationships. Its

15-minute color programs -- 30 in all -- werefirst seen in kinder- garten and first and second grade classroomsin September of 1970.

The budget for "Ripples" was $250,000.

The second NIT consortium involved 27agencies, and out of thii project came "fmages & Things," an art educationseries.that re- lates art in its many forms to-the everyday livesof ten-to-thirteen- . year-olds. The series, released in 1972, consists of thirty

20-minute color programs. The "Images_&_Things" budget was 150,000.

In the third consortium, 31 agenc.i.es have joined NIT to create

"Inside/Out," a series that takes an affective approach to the emotional health and well-being of eight -to- ten - year -olds. Its

30 15-minute color programs will be completed and ready forbroad-

cast in September of 1973. The original budget for "Inside/Out" was slightly more than $600,000; a grantfrom Exxon Corporation

for the support of related print, film, and utilizationactivities

has brought that figure to $800,000.

Many months of planning preceded the beginning of actual pro-

duction for each series. The basic philosophies and objectives

of the series and the specific design of individual programs were

developed by groups of eminent authorities in early childhood,

art and health education. "INSIDE/WI! CONSORTIUM AGENCIES

Alaska Educational Broadcasting Commission California Health Education Television Consortium Florida State Department of Education Georgia_ Department of Edtication, Educational Media Services Division Hawaii Department of Education Illinois Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, ETV/ITV Section, and Blue Cross-Blue Shield Iowa: Departments of Educational Broadcastin. & Public Instruction Kansas State Department of Education Kentucky ETV Network. KETC-TV, St. Louis, Missouii Maine Health Education Resource Utilization Conscrtium State Department of Education, Massachusetts (The 21-Inch Classroom) Michigan Departments of Education & Public Health andThe Mott Foundation 'Mississippi Authority for Educational Television National Instructional Television Nebraska Department of Education,.ITV Services Nevada Educational Communications Commission New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority' New -Orleans Public Schools New York State Education Department North Carolina State Department of Education Ohio State Department of Education Oregon Board of Education-Oregon Association of Intermediate and

. County Superintendents Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction South Carolina Department of Education Tennetsee.State Department of Education Texas Education Agency Utah State Board of Education, Instructional MediaDivision Virginia State Department of Education Ontario Educational Communication Authority(Canada) Washington State Educational Television StationsHealth Education Consortium Educational Communications Division of Wisconsin FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1973 glo Mu cork ginteo TV Series Asks Pupils to Solve Crises

of the segments have been com By GENE I. MAEROFF i Each 15minum episode de- Plans were discloged herelpictscontrasting points of viewpleted; five are in production yesterday for a series of tele-And thenwithout reaching aand the final five are in script vision programs that are to beresolution leaves it 'up toform. broadcast into classrooms in at; the teacher and pupils to dis- A program shown at the new least 30 states to help elemen-'cuss possible courses of action,conference consisted of inter. tary school pupils deal with woven narratives of an inner- emotions and attitudes involv--accordingto Dr. Orvis A. Har- ing death, love, respons:bility,relson, the chief consulatantcity child who has so much and other subjects not usually for the series. responsibility heaped upon her addressed, in the schools.. Dr.-Harrelson, who is a phytthatit is burdensome and a "Inside/Out," as the 30partIsician and educator in Tacoma,suburbanyoungster whois series is entitled, is being pro-Mash., and others involved indenied responsibility and yearn duced at a cost of $600,000 byithe production spoke at a newsfor the chance to do something the National Instructional-Tele-,conference yesterdayatthefor himself. vision Center, in cooperation;New York Hilton.. During a question period tha with the State Departments of"This is a major step," Ed-followed, one observer said tha Education in New York and;win G. Cohen, the executivethe mother of the suburban New Jerseyand 28other; directorof the National In-child was portrayed as neurotic agencies. lstructional Television Center inand overprotective and that the New York City's Channel 13,13loomington, Ind., said. "It isinner-city apartment was show WNET, is among the stations an attempt to tackle mentalas slovenly. that have agreed to carry the health education on a national"I'm not defending that," Mr. programs,whicharebeingbasis and go beyond the blood,Cohen responded. "Your point filmed at "real-life" locationsibones and brushing your teethis well taken. But any one pro- using almost entirely nonpro-;approach that has characterizedgram doesn't run the gamut fessional performers. The seriesihealth education until now." and over all there is variety in will start in September. The filming and editing of 20the series." The seriesisdesigned to stimulate discussions of values and morals, which Dr. Harrel- son said could cause it to arouse controversy among some parents of the third,fourth, fifth and sixth graders to whom it is shown. 'Enormous Responsibility' It will place "enormous responsibility" on the teacher, Dr. Harrelson said. A grant of $200,000 from the ExxonCorporation has been -used to produce 500,000 study guides and phonograph records for distribution to teachers' to aid them in preparation for using the series. Working with Dr. Harrelson on the committee that decided the content and objectives of each of the 30 segments were Dr. Jerry Brown of Bloom- ington, a learningspecialist; Dr. Glenn Easley of Tacoma, a clinical psychologist; Dr. Jimmy Phelps of Santee, Calif., a scho administrator, and Dr. Wallace -eratessow ro ottee00VOr THIS Caw. 41- Ann Wesley of Chicago, the RIGHTED rAITERIAL HAS MA GRANTED re head of the American Med- ical Association's health edu- -1041idsj VirtiCr:frgie cation department. Ths. u)nsivr_owakitraS1* On an experimentalbasis, TO ERIC AND ZAMINS OPERATING some segments of the series UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL rN have already been broadcast STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER am* on stations in several states, DUCTION OUTSIDE THE MC SYSTEM' RE includingGeorgia,California ouiriES PERMISSION a THE COPYRIGHT and Ohio. OWNER The developers of the series believe thatitwill have art important secondary audience A scene from the series "Inside/Out," which is being among adults as a means of produced by the National Instructional Television Cen-helping them to examine their ter in cooperation with the education departments ofattitudes toward the upbringing New York and New Jersey and 2$ other agencies. of.children. -_

(Advertisement) - alI . , I ' - - . II

NATURAL HISTORY C LASSUQOM TV May 1973 SHOW BANNED Page 7 IN BOSTON Not all instructional television is as dull 4401-; as it.used to be 4.44:.;L-7441 vt 44';$

On TV screens in thousands of class- stations. Each year NIT assembles a a $200,000 grant to NIT to pay for roomsthisJanuary, 8-to-10-year-old consortium of underwriters to produce printinganddistributionofteacher pupils will see a small, drama about a a new series of Programs. The 31 guides-and classroom aids. little girl their age who loses her grand- participatingsponsorsincludestate Sample programs for the. series have mother. Some of the action: departments of'education, ETV networks been field-tested in 10 localities, from As relatives gather :for the funeral. and commissions, and Canada's Prov- Salem, Ore., and Fresno. Cal., toSt. Linda and her cousins play in the fam- ince of Ontario. Louis, Chicago; Toronto and Boston. ily's front yard. One game is "Bang, Altogether, 4000 children viewed live bang. you're deadr Linda gets "shot," test shows. falls to the ground and lies motionless Costing a mere$600,000roughly The academic acceptance apparently a few moments, briefly alarming her the amount a big commercial network has been exceptional. "We're flabber- playmates. Later her parents try to ex- spends for two runs of a prime-time gastecfat the enthusiastic response by plain to her what it means to die. She movieInside/Out, as the forthcoming the teachers," Owen reports. He ad- asks them. "Are you going to die?" 30-episodeseriesiscalled,isde- mitted that some Boston schoolmarms "Someday," her motheranswers scribed by N_ IT as "the most extensive had found the episode on death "in- gravely. At the graveside, Linda hears project ever undertaken in North Amer- appropriate" and said they would not the minister intone. "There is a time icanclassroomtelevision."(Sesame show it to their pupils. "Actually we're to live and a time to die." Street and The Electric Company are not encouraged," the NIT man laughed, Could be an episodeof As the in the same category because they- are "to think we could produce something World Turns' Or Edge of Night? designed primarily_ for at-home rather that would be 'banned in Boston'." Could be. Butit'sactually a15- than in-school viewing, although both Assignments to produce shows for minutefilmproduced bypublic-TV are seen in many schools.) the series were parceled out by NIT to station KETC in St. Louis. It is part of Inside/Out is more ambitious than WNVT, the Northern Virginia Educa- a 30-episode educational TV series to earlier NIT projects in several respects. tional Television station in Annandale; be distributed in the U.S. and Canada Throughlittleslice -of -lifevignettes WVIZ, the metropolitan Cleveland ETV by the National Instructional Television (such as one called "Must I/May I," station; the Kentucky Educational-Tele- Center of Bloomington. Ind. picturing situations in which children vision Network; St.Louis's KETC-TV; Classroom TV. often disparaged in struggle with their sense of responsi- and the Ontario Educational Communi- academic and TV circles as a glitter- bility), the programs will seek to pro- cations Authority. Or. Orvis Harrelson, ingpromise that never got beyond vide a framework for classroom discus- health-services director for the Tacoma, mediocrity, is still around. It is, in fact, sions of children'ssocial, emotional Wash., public schools,is serving as alive and well in many communities, and physical concerns. Months of re- chief consultant. and actually looking a little healthier. search into schoolroom needs, accord- It's a shoestringoperation,to be ing to Kent Owen, one of NIT's publi- Theparticipating agencies have put sure, getting little aid from big 'gov- cationseditors,found 'students and up $450,000. NIT will try to get back ernment andphilanthropicspenders, teachers "bored to death with blood and the remaining $150,000 in fees from partly because Uncle Sam has never bones, things with no direct bearing on stations. Edwin Cohen, NIT's executive seen fit to make televised teaching a the children's lives," and crying out for director, believes every public-TV sta- major fundingbeneficiary and partly ways to "feel through" children's inner tionin the U.S. with daytime school because local school boards are too feelings.Inside/Out. Owen believes, servicea handful donotair such harried by rising educational costs to "is going to open up discussions in programmingwill carry Inside/Out. shell out much money for what seems classroomsasthey'veneverbeen Is there some way NIT will have to them a teaching frill. opened up before. We're not dismissing of gauging the classroom impact of the Still, a few agencies like NIT are the need for cognitive materials, but programs? "Oh, yes," Cohen reported. managing to crank out moderately suc- simply trying to deal with human feel- "The consortium members keep a close cessful contributions to a growing li- ings for a change." eye on how the programs are used in braryof ETV materials. Foundedin Theideahasbrought educators the classrooms and get back reports 1965 with Federal assistance, the cen- running, the NIT official claims. "We from teachers. You might say we have ter is now a self.supporting operation didn't have to go out and twist arms our own form of Nielsen ratings." withnearly 700 hours of ETV pro- on this one. The agencies and states And NIT isconfident, he implied, gramming available on a rental basis came rushingin toparticipate." An that Inside/Out is going to be ETV's to the country's 210-or-so public-TV unexpected windfall came from Exxon: 1973 hit show. Ea

Thursday,Feb.1,1973

TV Probes Children's Emotions ers as well, and the programs are de- ing at a blackboard. By Andrew Barnes They are drama, designed to catch Washington Post Staff Writer signed to help prepare them. The series, called Inside/Out, started the attention of an 8- to 10-year-old, DEATH,. DIVORCE and other sit- present a situation, then stop, leaving uations that arouse children's deepest going out to Northern Virigina schools the class and teacher to talk about within reach of Channel 53, l'irNVT, what they have seen. emotions are among the topics of a Jan. 29.It will be seen across the new television series for elementary Example: The narrator, a little girl, country starting next autumn. tells us she has made a picture for her classrooms. The 30 15minute shows bear no grandmother who is in the hoSpital. Dealing with these emotions may be resemblance to the sort of edu, -tional She gets hcme from school to find hard for some children, and for, teach- television that shows a teacher stand- both her father and mother there. They tell her that grandmother has died. Not comprehending, thegirl asks, "but when can I give grandma this picture?" As the flim shows the gathering of a large family at the Victorian house, the girl explains: "I felt like grandma left me alone, like she didn't want to be with me anymore." The film comes to its climax when the girl, who has been very troubled by her grandthother's death, sits down with her father and mother. "Linda;"-esays the father, "death is a natural thing. Everything dies." "Are you going to die?" asks the child. "Someday." "Where do you go?" "Somewhere, we believe." responds the mother, "but we can't be sure" A graveside scene shows a minister talking about "sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life." The final scene has the mother tell- ing Linda. "It's all right to cry, especi- ally together." "Grandma will never come back again, will she?" asks the child, and the mother, leaning over Linda's bed, responds softly, "Never. Let me tuck you in." A little girl fantasizes playmate reaction in "I DareYon," See INSIDE, Page G3, Col. 1 TAE WASHINGTON POST Thursday,Feb.1,1973 Child Emotions Are Aroused By TV Program

INSIDE, From GI They seethesensitive As the lights came up one they hadtoleavetheir cited from children, and per- films as being the" one on recent morning at a ses- former homes and friends. haps in themselves. death, another on- divorce, sion held to acquaint North- It 'was my exact story The National Instructional one on an "emotionally bat- ern Virginia school officials when w e had t o leave Television Center (NIT), co- tered child," and one on a Georgia," said one little boy. ordinatoroftheseries, child who has a crush on a with the series, some of the after adultsfound themselves They concluded, agrees, and has a special teacher. having to deal with their talking it over. that the best $200,000grant* fromthe Hugh Green, .director of own emotions aroused by thing to be said for moving Exxon Corp., added to the school television services for was "you go with your fam- $600,000 production cost the film. ily and you get to keep your WNVT, emphasized that the How, they were asked, paid by member states, to decision on. what should be family." prepare teachers to use the shown must be up to the in- would they handle a group Anotherfilmcalled"I series well. of children who had been Dare You" concerns a gang dividual school systems. stirred by the film? eggingeach Both WETA in Washing Lawrence Walcoff, execu- ofchildren ton and WMPB in Baltimore tive producer of the series, "I don't think this is real- other on to a dangerous ride expect to make a decision concurs, but argues istic today," said one super- on a skateboard, to dropping soon whether to air Inside/ hardly a water filled balloon down "children don't leave their visor."Mostkids ../ut next fall. WETA, feelings at the doorstep" of know their grandparents." the chimney of a burning WMPB and WNVT cover all andfinallyto theschool,evenif"for "I don't want my kids fireplace, the area school systems ex- teachers, sometimes these watching that sappy standing in front of a Srpeed- cept Washington, which ing car. are difficult matters to deal mother," said a school psy- makes no great use of tele- with." chologist. The central character in the film, Clarissa, imagines vision. To equip teachers to han- "I wouldn't want to deal both taking the dare and Inside/Out was produced dle the problems presented with it," conceded a fourth- standing in front of the car, for use in healthcla...les, by a series that, deals with grade teacher. and being struck and reject- where the 32 states partici- emotions, NITismaking But by the end of the day, ing it and being kicked out pating in making the films filmsshowing how other the response to a question- of the gang. said there was a great unmet teachers deal with children, naire was unanimous that Then the film stops. The need. In Virginia, too, the and producing books for theseriesisuseful and point is for the children to legislature has set personal preparation. should be usedinlocal talk about what they would development as a first prior- The obvious solution, for classes. do. ity for the schools. a school or teacherthat Not all the programs are Both "I Dare You" wirl Nevertheless, representa- finds the series difficult to as poignant. thestoryaboutmoving, tives of several counties said handle, is simply not to turn One concerns afamily "Travelin'Shoes," were they felt a campaign to in- it on, andthe producers that must move from its made at WNVT. Although troduce the public to the have no control over that. home on the Eastern Shore the WNVT broadcasts dur- content of the series will be On the basis of responses and the problems this pre- ing the day will be intended necessary before it is shown from officials who have seen sents to a young boy in the for schools, home television in the schools. the series,however, they family. sets can pick them up. Harold Lackey of the have o: dered and expect to The boy summed up his All the films shown grip- State Board ofEducation distriblite by next Septem- views this way: ped the attention of their summed upthefeeling ber 3(0,000teacher work- "I'm going to tell my papa audiences, both children and when he said, "One or two books. At 30 Pupils to a all about it tonight. I'm not adults. parents can come along and class,hat would be 9 mil- going." Yet in the discussion at jeopardize your whole se- lion c tildrenexpected to A class of fourth graders the end of the day, it was ries." watch he films. watchingthisshowhad clear that none of the local A negative reaction to cer- And .f the programs catch themselves all moved, and systems are about to urge tain sex education films at on, they will go on for years, watched the show with un- teachers simply to turn on various places around the probably until hair styles failing interest. Several in a the shows in front of the country is mentioned by se- change so much that child- discussionfollowing the children. Teachers will need veralpersonsconnected ren refuse to take the films film were able to describe help in how to handle the with the Inside/Outside se- seriously. their own emotions when emotions that will be eli- ries as a reason they want to go slow.