Beginnings of PSSC, Film Experiences, Later Thoughts

As an MIT student and faculty member I worked with Jerrold Zacharias and Francis Friedman, and was in on the genesis, planning and early evolution of what became the PSSC program. Zach's experiences with high school students and the views on education of Edwin Land (inventor of polaroid and founder of the Polaroid Co.) were important in forming the program. I was involved in the PSSC movies and had roles in about a dozen films as principal or advisor or builder of apparatus. I will tell about this aided by excerpts from memos, speeches and films. I will also describe how this has led to my view of what needs to be done in education now.