Displays - Flannel boards

DISPLAYS

Depending upon the type of the display, materials can be arranged with the help of insulation, or soft board, perforated, magnet or chalkboard of glass or painted wood, showcases, tables, stands, or blocks. A display usually involves a careful and attractive arrangement of materials, which may be two-dimensional - paper, cloth, ribbons etc., or three - dimensional-objects, models, specimens etc. A single display can have materials of both dimensions; example - a display consisting of pictures and models of houses.

Different types of displays serve many purposes:

1.     stimulate interest of the students (a bulletin board display on flower arrangement, a chalkboard work involving diagrams and line drawing)

2.     publicise ideas (a perforated or a magnetic board display to publicise a family planning campaign)

3.     explain things effectively (a chalkboard work on the various steps in cleaning precious metals)

4.     bring several scattered ideas together (a flannel board story on sources, nutritional values and deficiency diseases of protein)

5.     helps to introduce or summarise a topic (a showcase display on four food groups either in the beginning or at the end of a lesson on 'balanced diet')

6.     give recognition to the creative and original work of students; examples - an insulation board display of stencil printing articles develop a group feeling if the displays are'put up by the students as a group

7.     help students share things for which only one copy or specimen is available; examples - a recipe, an article, a picture- on any home science topic.

Like graphic aids, displays also are comparatively inexpensive, therefore, most schools and adult education agencies can afford them. They consist of locally available materials and it is possible to introduce improvisation. All displays have some common advantages. They

1.     can be put up in advance/or their display material can be prepared in advance

2.     are easy to put up, use, and transport

3.     can be used repeatedly

4.     can be used for a variety of subjects.

FLANNEL BOARDS

When you attach pieces of flannel or sand paper to the back of pictures, photographs and drawings, and place them on a board covered with flannel, they stick to the board without pins: This magic display is called a flannel board display, or a flannelgraph. It is used mainly:

1.     to capture and hold attention of your students/audience through its dramatic approach of bringing and removing the display materials instantly.

2.     to help students specially children and illiterates learn creatively as this medium helps them to construct and reconstruct concepts visually.

3.     to build up a story or a demonstration or to present a set of steps one by one and thus no element can distract viewers before its function is introduced.

4.     Its use is flexible and its presentation can be shortened or lengthened according to:

5.     purpose of the lesson

6.     nature of the audience (children, youth or adults; urban or rural; educated or illiterate)

7.     size of the board

8.     amount of display material

9.     time, available, to the instructor.

To prepare your own Flannel Board You need:

a foundation board which can be of plywood, hardboard or cardboard. If an insulex board is used, it will, also serve the purpose of a bulletin board as you can fix the display materials, those which do not have flannel at the back with pins and tacks. Use a board that is 36 x 48 inches in size for a group of 30 persons - cloth for covering - cotton, flannel, woollen cloth, felt or khadi.

Take a foundation board and cut the covering cloth 3 to 4 inches larger than the board to allow the overlap for securing it at the back. Stretch it tightly over the board, fold it at the back and tack it. For improvising a flannel board, take an old, woollen shawl or a blanket and stretch it on a wall or a raised charpoi or a table.

Display Material for a Flannel Board

Besides being attractive, your flannel board display must be easy to see and understand from a distance. So select the display materials which have:

Illustrations - big, bold and simple

Lettering - large, bold and print letters

Colours - few and pleasing colours that are clearly visible on the background.

Check the colour of the background material. There may not be much choice as cotton flannel is available mostly in white and pastel shades. The display materials - pictures, letters and drawings, should be large enough to be seen by the group but not so large that they fall out from the flannel board, because of their weight. Cut strips or pieces of flannel and paste them with glue/fevicol to the back of the display materials.

Sand paper instead of flannel, may be used with rough side on the outside, but it is found less effective as it does not stick as fast as flannel and has a tendency to curl.

Using a Flannel Board

Place your flannel board on an easel stand or a slanted table, to help the display material to stick to the board during a presentation. All the other points regarding placement of a flannel board are the same as the bulletin board.

Rehearse the presentation and know the basic story or steps by heart. Do not refer to your notes in between, and have all your display materials ready and in order of presentation, on a nearby stool/table.

- Stand on one side of the board and look at the audience as soon as you have placed the display piece. Talk to the audience. You may remove the first scene or step, to put the next ones on, or you may build up the entire set of steps of a story by keeping all of them one by one on the flannel board.

1.     Give enough time to your students to see each picture or strip of writing to understand each point/step before you proceed to the next.

2.     Seek student participation; example - after discussing the sources of various vitamins, students may come forward, select and place illustrations of foods containing these vitamins from a large collection of illustrations of different food items.