Participating Exercises 'Tinker Toys' Aid Speech IB
"Broken squares" and "tinker toys" may sound like children's games, but for students enrolled in Speech 1B, these phrases gain importance. They become exercises designed to establish guidelines for effective communication.
"Broken squares" and "tinker toys" are two of a semester-long series of participatory exercises in interpersonal communication employed in the basic speech course.
The course was organized in 1967 as an alternative to a required introductory course in public speaking, Speech 1A. Since its introduction, Speech 1B has grown from 11 sections to the 54 sections offered last spring. Sections of 1A dropped from 40 in 1967 to 7 last spring.
Bobby R. Patton, associate professor of speech and drama, says he believed this concept of participating in the course, rather than simply responding to a teacher's instructions, is rapidly developing in such fields as communications and human relations
Susan Atkins Asks Relief In Courtroom
LOS ANGELES (UPI) — The Sharon Tate murder trial proceeded Wednesday despite a plea from the witness stand by defendant Susan Atkins that she was in such pain she was having difficulty holding on to her sanity.
The 22-year-old Miss Atkins had brought the trial to a stand-still when she rose in court and threatened to start screaming unless she was excused.
Dr. Margaret McCarran, an internist at the County USC Medical Center, said an examination had shown that the young woman had been suffering from a severe case of constipation, but that the ailment had been alleviated and there was no symptom of any organic illness which could still be causing her discomfort.
Superior Court Judge Charles H. Older ordered the young woman to remain in the court-room and for the trial to proceed, remarking that there was no evidence that she was physically incapacitated or unable to participate in the proceedings.
Miss Atkins was brought into the courtroom during the afternoon session in a wheel chair.
Space Agency Boosts Funds
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The Space Agency said Tuesday it has added $47.6 million to its contract with a Denver firm for two Viking space craft to land on Mars because the unmanned landings were postponed from 1973 to 1975.
"That's really just the cost of the stretchout," one official said. "It's less money per year but more years."
The agency said it had revised its contract with Martin Marietta Corp. of Denver from $312.2 million to a new total of $359.8 million for the construction and coordination of the two Viking Mars unmanned landers.
Originally, the space craft were to have been launched in 1973 but they were postponed two years because of the agency's shrinking budget. Under the new schedule the two craft will be launched about 10 days apart during the summer of 1975.
Each will fly to orbit the mysterious Red Planet and will send a small instrument package to land on the surface.
THE COURSE consists of classmate interactions in a series of exercises designed to illustrate eight variables in interpersonal communication, Patton says. These variables include the effects of different perceptions of subject matter, the orientation of individuals in group situations, the semantic problems created by varying word connotations and the barriers commonly called communications gaps, he says.
Guidelines for effective communication are established by applying conclusions reached in class discussions following each exercise session, he says.
Patton explains that in exercises such as "broken squares" and "tinker toys" students see the importance of perceiving the entire problems and the necessity for individuals to act for the good of the group as well as their own benefit.
IN "BROKEN SQUARES" each member of a group of five has an envelope containing parts to five different puzzles. Each group must combine the pieces to make five completed squares. No talking is allowed and no group member can request puzzle pieces from another member.
"Tinker Toys" involves construction of a stick model symbolizing the group's character as a whole. Some groups are allowed to speak freely while others are required to build the model in silence. The emphasis of this exercise, Patton says, is on the effect of environmental variables on communication.
N.Y. Probes Assault Rash
NEW YORK (UPI) — Mayor John V. Lindsay and the city's top officials conferred on a rash of unprovoked attacks on police Tuesday but rejected any suggestions that police were the targets of an organized plot.
Police Commissioner Howard R. Leary described the attacks as "anomalies" of human experience and said his department was "treating each incident individually." He refused a request to arm patrolmen in cruisers with shotguns.
"Every citizen of New York has a deep feeling for police families," Lindsay said. He later visited two wounded policemen in hospitals in the Bronx and Queens.
The mayor went to police headquarters to confer with Leary and other top echelon police officers following a night in which one policeman was wounded and two others were fired on.
Following the half hour briefing Lindsay said he was "delighted" with Leary's order that patrolmen walk their beats in "close proximity" during the night. Leary issued the order after a patrolman was wounded from behind on his beat in the Bronx Saturday night.
The 1,500 member Housing Patrolmen's Benevolent Association also demanded two man patrol teams Tuesday.
Leary announced he was refusing a request from Edward Kierman, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, that radio patrol men be issued shotguns. Like other police they now carry 38 caliber pistols.
COMMUNICATION is apparently easier in an atmosphere of free talking, joking and laughter, Patton says. Those groups allowed to speak usually build coordinated models. Non-verbal group models are often disjointly linked models of individuals, he says.
Patton is convinced that participatory education is ideal for courses in the behavioral skills.
"These courses provide one of the few chances for feedback on our interpersonal behaviors," he says.
Senator Asks New Class At Airlines
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Sen. James B. Pearson, R-Kan., has introduced legislation giving the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) authority to set up a new class of air carriers that would use limited-capacity aircraft to serve small communities on a regular schedule.
The bill, which would amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, gives the CAB authority to regulate and set standards for the new class of carriers and to determine the capacity of aircraft to be used. It also authorizes the board to lift costly and time consuming tariff requirements when they stand in the way of improving local air service in the public interest.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Pearson has said his bill would encourage the kind of air carrier that can serve small communities without risk of outgrowing these routes because of economic pressure. He says increased costs and use of larger aircraft and decreased federal subsidies has led to a substantial decline in service to small communities by regional carriers.
"The Aviation Subcommittee of the Senate has been alarmed to note the rate at which service by regional carriers to small towns has declined." Pearson said.
Watch For Tops "PIGSKIN PICKS"
Coming Sept. 7
TACO GRANDE
With This coupon Buy 2 Tacos Get 1 Free!
1720 West 23rd Street
Offer expires Sept.30
Eight thousand dollars
FOR A COLLEGE EDUCATION
and you do not even know how to . . .
Free Speed Reading Test
Raise your Reading rate 50-100%
7:00 p.m.
FRIDAY
Holiday Inn
Evelyn Wood
READING DYNAMICS
TELEPHONE
843-6424
Call Now Class Space Limited