| Abstract: | The development of teaching machines is traced from the patented educational devices of the 19th century through the initial teaching machines of Sidney Pressey in the 1920s to the machines invented by B. F. Skinner in the 1950s. The obscurity of Pressey's pioneering work in this field contrasted with the fame achieved by Skinner is discussed in a historical context. The final sections discuss the short-lived success and eventual failure of classroom teaching machines in the 1950s and 1960s. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
