PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION IN CLASSIFICATION AND INDEXING

Many early programs were designed to teach either routine operations that could be broken down into easily learned, consecutive steps, or elementary levels of academic subjects like mathematics, basic science or foreign languages. For a long time programmed instruction was not thought suitable for conceptual subjects at a more advanced level, but the appearance of programs to teach subjects like advanced mathematics or computer programming suggested that it was not so much a matter of suitable subjects as of methodology. This is not the place for an examination of conventional attitudes towards academic disciplines and their teaching, but it might be observed that programmed instruction offers yet another confirmation of the growing realization that difficult subjects can be explained in a simple and even enjoyable manner without in any way lowering the level or dignity of those subjects.