Father of Teaching Machines

Father of Teaching Machines


Do you know who Sidney Pressey is?
Pressey, Sidney L. (1888–1979) was father of the teaching machine. He considered himself a cognitive psychologist. Clearly, he had some harsh comments about Skinners theories. Mr. Pressey was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.A. from Williams College, his father's alma mater. He attended graduate school at Harvard Univeristy in 1912 where he majored in psychology. After receiving his doctoral degree in 1917, he received an appointment as a research assistant at Indiana University. After four years, he accepted an invitation to Ohio State University as an assistant professor and remained on the faculty of Ohio State for the next thirty-eight years, achieving the rank of full professor in 1926 and retiring from the university in 1959.
His contribution to the world of learning was significant. In 1924, Sidney L. Pressey created a crude teaching machine suitable for rote-and-drill learning. In 1926, he published the first paper on the use of a teaching machine in School and Society.The U.S. Navy made use of one of his early models in its training program shortly after World War II.

What are Edward Thorndike’s three conditions to maximize training?
The three (3) conditions are the laws of recency, effect, and exercise. The law of recency stated that the last response achieved by the learner has a higher chance of appearing again. The law of effect stated the chance of specific response reinforcement is based on the award and punishment. The law of exercise stated that the act of repeating stimulus-response associations strengthens the link.

Why did the teaching machine fail?
The machine failed primarily for two reasons: Pressley was way ahead of his time and the depression placed a dent on the mass production of his teaching machine.

How did the teaching machine work?
The teaching machine was similar to a typewriter carriage. The machine had a window that exposed a question with four answers. On one side of the carriage were four keys. The user pressed the key that corresponded to the correct answer. When the user pressed a key, the machine recorded the answer on a counter to the back of the machine and revealed the next question. After the user was finished, the person scoring the test slipped the test sheet back into the device and noted the score on the counter.

Resources:
http://www.coe.uh.edu/courses/cuin6373/idhistory/pressey.html
http://www.teacherandtechnology.com/pressey.htm