It used to be very easy to get your way in school. The teacher, after all, was always turned around writing on the blackboard! But then a technology appeared, previously used mainly for military purposes, called the overhead projector. It would change much more than just the disciplinary record of students around the world.
In this episode of Version historyWe tell the story of the overhead projector. David Pierce joins The edgeJake Kastrenakes and Stanford professor Antero García will talk about how overhead projectors were developed, how they came into classrooms, and how they so changed the way children learn. They’re also trying to figure out why overhead projectors have mostly disappeared and whether the things that replaced them—from PowerPoint presentations to computer screens to those newfangled smart boards—have actually improved at OHP.
This is the last episode of the fifth season of Version historyeverything about the most iconic school technology. Thank you so much for watching, listening, commenting, and everything else! In addition to the OHP, we also spent this season analyzing oregon trail, the original Chromebook, the One Laptop Per Child program, the LeapFrog LeapPad, and those ubiquitous Texas Instruments calculators. If you missed any part of our season, watch the episodes here:
If you want to know more about the overhead projector, here are some links to get you started:
