Make It Count [22/01/78]
Number fears extinguished - 70s style!
How good are you with numbers? That's the theme of this 1978 Yorkshire Television series. The aim of the programme is to boost viewers' confidence with numeracy. Presenter Fred Harris, associated with educational television at the time, explains that the programme contains the maths a person might need in everyday life and that the aim is to get viewers comfortable around numbers.
A back to basics approach is taken in explaining addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The programme uses sweets, coins and the price of potatoes to demonstrate the maths being explained. Real world problems are presented in mathematical terms, such as how many people get on the bus and how will poor old Bert cope with all of those chairs in the church hall? A mix of graphics and animations support written demonstration on a whiteboard.
Where a patronising tone might be expected, Fred is chatty and friendly. He presents mathematics in a clear way with frequent repetition because viewers might have only had once chance to view the programme. Underneath the catchy theme tune, the flares and the vibrant colours is a series addressing a very real fear viewers may have had with numbers. Originally shown on Sunday mornings on ITV, the series was repeated as part of the early evening Open College strand on Channel Four in 1983.
Fred Harris shows how to deal with substractions and introduces dividing.
Tags
How We Learned
From classroom to lecture hall to living room: a look at the many ways TV and video shaped our learning experiences over the years.
For most of us, the screen has been as much a part of our education as the blackboard or whiteboard. Early 20th century educators quickly saw that moving images could be a valuable teaching aid, and by the 1920s and 30s a thriving industry was delivering thousands of films for classroom use. By the 1960s, the small screen had largely taken over, and schoolkids would thrill at the sight of the teacher wheeling out a television set.
In the meantime, education was transforming, too, with grammar schools, secondary moderns and technical schools giving way to comprehensives, which in turn made room for academies and faith schools. Higher education swelled with new universities and polytechnics, while the Open University, launched in 1969, used video and television to reach students in their homes. Through television, informal learning has also helped those who missed out on traditional schooling, or who just want to expand their minds. Whether we spoke our first words along with onscreen puppets, studied along with Open University broadcasts or followed educational debates in current affairs programmes, television and video have always had a lot to teach us.
22 videos in this collection
1
2
Make It Count [22/01/78]
3
Elton Well Dressing
4
Bill Has Trouble with the Magic Box
5
Don't Ask Me [10/08/77]
6
School
7
School Leaver
8
Chalkface [04/07/82]
9
Adult Basic Skills: Entrance
10
Think Tank [18/08/81]
11
A New Choice of School
12
Children Talking 1 Assessing Spoken Language at Eleven
13
Teaching Science: Object Lessons
14
Able Children
15
Brighton Polytechnic Promo 2
16
Painting by Numbers
17
Multi-cultural Education
18
One Week in July
19
Introduction to Computers
20
Christmas Special
21
Dulwich College and Village
22