----------------------

2. Part of the word is like part of the word factory. Both parts come from an old word meaning make or build.

man -- fact -- re

3. Part of the word is like part of the word manual. Both parts come from an old word for hand. Many things used to be made by hand.

--------facture

4. The same letter goes in both spaces:

m -- nuf -- cture

5. The same letter goes in both spaces:

man -- fact -- re

6. Chair factories:

---------------------- chairs.

In the first frame the word to be learned appears along with a definition and an example. When he copies it correctly, the second frame appears. Now he has to be selective in his copying; He must see the common root of "fact" in "manufacture" and "factory." This helps him to acquire what Professor Skinner calls an "atomic verbal operant." In the third frame another root must be perceived. In four and five the student must put down letters without assistance. In frame six the student fills in the whole word to make the sentence which he knows from the first example.

As Professor Skinner says, "Even a poor student is likely to do this correctly because he has just composed or completed the word five times, he made two important root-responses, and has learned that two letters occur in word twice. He has probably learned to spell the word without mistakes."

This sequence gives an example of the manner in which the student's mental responses are guided and aimed at a particular end in each "lesson." The more cogently selected and clearly connected each frame in the series is, the more effective the program of the machine in instilling the intended knowledge

Using the more complex machine for high-school and college level often requires a system called "vanishing." In learning a poem, for example, first certain insignificant letters are omitted, then important letters, then unimportant words, then more important words. After that a whole line is dropped out, then increasing numbers of lines, and in a surprisingly short time the student is able to repeat the whole verse without having made a wrong response.