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The Early Republic
The Cold War
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The American psychologist B. F. Skinner believed that it might be possible to teach arithmetic more efficiently using machines similar to those he had devised for teaching animals. With this instrument (right), if students entered the right answer, they could turn the knob and move on to another problem. If not, they had to keep working where they were. |
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Skinner displayed the machine in March 1954 at a University of
Pittsburgh conference. In later versions of the device, a second sequence
of questions repeated those that had been missed the first time.
Skinner’s ideas, in combination with the work of others, gave rise to
several attempts to automate teaching, an effort that became known as
“programmed learning.” In order to teach students how to calculate on a slide rule, schools bought oversized instruments like the one below. It is over 2 meters (over 7 feet) long. This example was used at a girls’ high school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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