Greater Latrobe High School - Latrobean Yearbook (Latrobe, PA)

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The screen flashes white-lights shatter the darkness-and the student watches the world at work. By means of the motion picture projector, he has lled from the tiresome discussion of the classrooms down a road of light and shodows that shows him life-not as stuffy detail of -of-ories and principlesf but as action and reason. He may tray-'l the assembly line of an automobile plant, or follow the steps in the pasteurization of milk. all without leaving his seat. Through th-' medium of the screen he has watched the practical experiences of others to round out his own life with a unit of research. Good morning. may I serve you '. ' -f thus the salesmanship student l-egirs his ri-search into the peculiarities of the personalities he will lat.,-r meet each day in the retail store. Behind the counter of the model store. he faces the customer, ready to serve him tactfully. Through individual experience, he develops his methods of selling before he must depend upon those methods for a living. On thc table a miniature steam engine fired by a bunsen burner chugs busily as hissing steam drips from the escape valve-in a test tube, carefully measured drops of sulphuric acid boil up into a chalky precipitate --f through the sparkling water fish lazily wave their fins and slip easily bc-hiud the tioating fronds in the aquarium -each experiment the object of rapt attention for the young scientists engaged in their research. In the laboratories the students acquaints himself througn expeiiments, tests his theories, and learns by doing. In the history room, long the Home of staid and marshalled fac s rtcited in awed respectfulness to the great. the student also pu1'sues the trend of research. From the va1'ied collection of reference material in the bookcase he augments the basic outline of his text and study sheets. 'Jn the maps and diagrams he traces the movement of civilization across Europe, visioning the kaleidescopic change through the centuries. A jig-saw liuzzes as it cuts through a piece of ine wood skillfully guided by a future carpenter-a student watches the lathe as it Haw- lessly turns and shapes the base for a lamp he is making-another assembles a broken light fixture --e each is busily practicing and learning through actual experience in the trade departments the technique for future work which will be his means of livelihood. Latrobe High School has joined the throng that has come to realize that education through research is the type from which the most real benefit is dtrived. As the old word method of teaching has been abandoned for the discussion type, so has the text book method been augmented with research. Students in Mr. St:in':ba'iq'1's general science class see a reel of moving pictures. ,S . J I TOD: Alvin i-lile. Bill Banks. and Donald Sproch assist Mr. Wiegman with a chemistry experiment. Biologists observe wrigglin forms TOP CENTER: g as they adjust their powerful microscopes. BOTTOM CENTER: History pupils make use Of books and maps - important mediums of research. BOTTOM: Librarian Vivian Watkins obligingly helps other students in their search for reference material in the library. Page Eleven 3 r

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Page Ten The Heart of Today's School As Latrobe High Schools physical plant has grown from its begin- nings in 1882, so have its method and means of teaching developed with the age. Through individual research and experience the student learns by doing. Each day, he employs some phase of research in the classroom or laboratory to tit himself for an active life. The bell hardly ceases to clang before the library comes to life. Students pour through the doors and make their way to the long tables, pausing only long enough to drop their books before hurrying to the shelves. One early arrival already stands before the encyclopedia, slowly thumbing his way through a volume-another follows a questing finger down the column of an unabridged dictionary-in a far corner a girl .it the card file makes notations on a pad. All this goes on as the students work in another unit of iesearch.

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TECHNIQUE CDF THE CLASSROOM From the technique used in teaching the famous readin', 'ritin', and 'rithme- tic of centuries past have developed spe- cial methods of instruction now used uni- versally in institutions of learning. AS one glances through the classrooms of Latrobe High School, he watches with interest the various techniques employed to teach lessons and to present material in the classrooms. Drill work plays an important part in classroom methods of teaching. I, and 2, and 3, and 4 echoes from Miss Shallen- berger's room as she drills the class on their writing exercises. On her way down the aisle, she stops to help a stu- dent take an extra hump from a HG . English classes do practice exercises to make better grammar students. The commercial department spends most. of its time drilling and practicing to bring truth to the saying that practice makes perfect. The mathematics department depends mainly on problem solving to train the students in its classes. Mathematics teachers do surprising things with a jum- ble of x's and z's while explaining various principles to wide-eyed students. Miss Whiting, with pointer in hand, dem- onstrates how to find the area of a six sided regular polygon, and Miss Hamil- ton tells a confused young math student how to remove a radical from the denom- inator of a fraction. Miss Breeton and her freshmen study percentage problems and the methods for calculating com- pound interest. Carefully guided work with the use of study charts and outlines for background and research is a main feature in the social science department. Mr. Wild trains freshmen for good citizenship, or plans with them the layout for a modern industrial town. From his seat in the back of the room, Mr. Rise hears a jun- ior's description of the Battle of Bushy' Run, while Mr. Hoerr takes sophomore students on an imaginary trip to Europe for a plunge into Old World history. At the end of a block, Mr. Beatty gives the seniors an opportunity to discuss today's social problems as they finish one sec- tion of their study of the principles of democracy. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TOP: Students practice arm movement in Miss Sl1aIlenberger's writing class. SECOND: .Miss ,Whiting .examines .al- gebraic problems on the board while pupils at their seats check answers. THIRD: Freshmen consult reference books in Mr. Wilds' class and make outlines for civics tebooks. no FOURTH: Mr. Stumbaugh explains the principles of an electric motor to a group of interested science pupils. BOTTOM: Bill McCafferty and Jessie Stough translate French phonetics at the blackboard under Miss Gibson's direction.