Moscow in May 1963: Education and Cybernetics. An Interchange of Soviet and American Ideas Concerning Education, Programed Learning, Cybernetics, and the Human Mind. Bulletin, 1964, No. 38. OE-14106

Overview & Synopsis

This bulletin chronicles the authors' visit to the Soviet Union, May 14-28, 1963, sponsored by the Ministry for Public Education of the R.S.F.S.R. and the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education of the U.S.S.R. The purposes of the visit were to renew earlier contacts with Soviet educators and scientists; to explore the possibility of expanded exchange of educators under the U.S.-U.S.S.R. cultural agreement; and to exchange views concerning the role of cybernetics in education. Individual chapters describe their activities in Moscow at: (1) the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the R.S.F.S.R.; (2) School No. 5, a public school; (3) Boarding School No. 12, an experimental school of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the R.S.F.S.R.; (4) a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Public Education of the R.S.F.S.R. and the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences; (5) a meeting at the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the U.S.S.R. with the head of the pedagogical section and other attendees; (6) the First Moscow Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages; (7) the Moscow Institute of Energetics, the source of many of the teaching machines and cybernetic devices used in the Soviet Union; (8) the Moscow State University, and a discussion about a possible teacher exchange program; and (9) an informal, unscheduled dinner discussion with a recent Moscow State University graduate. The author concludes with a recommendation that American leadership take a new look at the problems of developing human resources. (Contains 2 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]