OPERATION OF THE SCHOOLS An Evaluation of Climate Control as a Factor Problem. This study evaluates the effect of climate control in a school on the maintenance costs and depreciation of the physical plant, on the quality of educational outcomes, and on certain physical and psychological characteristics of the learner. Major objective. The objective is to compare the cost of maintenance and depreciation, the educational outcomes, the incidence of illness, and psychological problems in a climate-controlled school with measures of the same factors in a school without climate control. Procedures.-Two junior high schools containing the same physical facilities for instruction will be constructed. Each will be designed to accommodate 1,200 students. In the experimental school both temperature and humidity will be controlled; in the other school complete climate controls will not be present. An inspection of each building will be made at periodic intervals to record differences in deterioration, and records of maintenance costs will be kept for each. Data will be collected on the sex, learning potential, previous school achievement, and socioeconomic level of the students; differences in the experimental and control groups will be controlled statistically. Specially constructed achievement tests will be designed to measure the educational achievement of the students in each school. Records will be kept of absences due to illness, referrals for disciplinary or for psychological reasons, and an instrument will be devised to measure the level of student and faculty morale in each school. Standard tests of significance will be used in analyzing the data. FLOYD T. CHRISTIAN, Superintendent of Project No. 1067. Duration: 3 years. Relationship Between School Design and Utilization Problem. This study attempts to determine the influence that different types of "school-within-school" patterns of organization have on the perceptions and interactions of school personnel. Major objective.-The objective is to identify and measure the sociometric and perceptual characteristics of personnel in selected secondary schools that represent various patterns of school-within-school organization and design. Procedures.-The 24 to 32 schools selected for the study will be limited to senior high schools constructed since 1954 and occupied for a period of not less than 2 years; they will represent four different combinations of building types and patterns of plant utilization. An attempt will be made to equate the different types of schools on the basis of student enrollment, number of professional personnel, socioeconomic characteristics of the community, wealth per pupil, and other characteristics. The instruments to be used include a leadership identification inventory for students, faculty, and administrators; a battery of group interaction inventories; and a set of perceptual scales. Appropriate statistical tests for differences in performance on each of the instruments will be applied for each of the school types. KARL T. HEREFORD, Associate Professor of Project No. 918. Duration: 1 year. The Use of Mathematical Programing to Solve Certain Problems in Public School Transportation Problem. The purpose of this project is to investigate the use of mathematical programing in solving the transportation problems of public schools. Major objective. The objective is to determine whether mathematical programing can indicate within limits the most economical bus routes, the optimum sizes of school buses, and the location of distribution points. Procedures.-An analysis will be made of existing research and mathematical programing related to transportation. A programing procedure will be developed for a rural, an urban, and a rural-urban school system, with each system reflecting different transportation needs. After the programing procedure has been established, it will be tried out in three additional school systems, and comparisons will be made between suggested and existing routes and sizes of buses. ROSCOE A. BOYER, Associate Professor of Project No. 783. Duration: 1 year. RESEARCH ON: V. HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS The Impact of a Value-Oriented University on Student Attitudes and Thinking Problem. This study explores the effects of a declared institutional goal of value orientation on the values of students. Major objectives.-The objectives are (1) to determine whether or not a Catholic university experience produces conformity or individualism in students; (2) to investigate the effect of Catholic education on liberal-authoritarian beliefs in students; and (3) to compare the development of critical thinking in students attending a Catholic college with the development of critical thinking in students attending non-Catholic institutions. Procedures.-Batteries of relevant tests given in the fall of 1959 to 1,000 undergraduate students in a Catholic college and to approximately 600 students from State colleges will be readministered in the spring of 1961. The instruments include a test of authoritarian personality, a test of liberalism and conservatism in political viewpoint, a test of critical thinking in ethics, and a questionnaire on educational expectations. Data will be obtained also on achievement, demographic characteristics, and personal and family background. The analysis will describe differences in pre- and post-test performances of subjects and will compare performances of students from the Catholic institution with those from non-Catholic institutions. JULIAN F. S. FOSTER, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, Calif. Project No. 729. Duration: 2 years. 81 A Study of Esthetic Judgment Problem. This study investigates the ability of college students to recognize degrees of esthetic merit in objects of art and the direct trainability of this skill. Major objective. The objective is to determine by experimentation some of the factors which may be important in the development of esthetic judgment. Procedures. The main study will use a series of experiments, each involving a relatively small number of people for an extended period of time. A sample of male college students will be subjected to several tests of esthetic judgment and sets of students equated on judgment of art will be selected for further study. Each set will be divided at random into various experimental groups, each group required to respond with esthetic judgment to a large number of pairs of art objects presented on slides. Correct judgments will be confirmed with varying frequency and under varying circumstances for different groups of subjects. The judgment made by a subject on each stimulus pair will be counted as right or wrong (by the criterion of agreement with expert judgment), and a number of such counts will be put together to yield a score for a subject's performance at each stage of training. Differences in the average score for each experimental group will be studied as a function of differences in experimental treatment. Individual differences in the scores (and in changes in scores) will be correlated with other kinds of individual differences. Questionnaires and interviews will be used to obtain from each subject relevant information about his background of experience with the arts and his conscious reactions to the training. IRVIN L. CHILD, Professor of Psychology, Project No. 669. Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Duration: 3 years. September 1959-August 1962. Measurement and Evaluation of Change in College Women Problem. This project analyzes personality change in college women as measured by personality tests and interviews. Major objective. The objective is to determine those changes which have taken place in the personality development, attitudes, values, and opinions of an extensively tested sample of college women. Procedures. Six graduating senior classes and six entering freshmen classes, as well as two successive samples of juniors, sophomores and second-semester freshmen at Vassar College have been given a battery of psychological tests and have been interviewed in depth. The present research proposes to analyze these data in terms of personality changes occurring during the college years; characteristics of special groups, such as those who have left college and those who have visited the college psychiatrist; relationships between interview data and such variables as faculty ratings, grades, choice of major, and postcollege plans; and the effects of interviewing on the members of the sample. MERVIN B. FREEDMAN, Coordinator, Mellon Foundation, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Project No. 736. Why Successful Students of the Natural Sciences Problem. This study seeks to discover any common experiences, perceptions, and expectations of science which characterize those who abandon science careers. Major objective.-The objective is to determine to what extent students who abandoned careers in science did so (1) because they felt there were limitations on their use of subjective perception and on their freedom of inquiry (2) because they expected greater external rewards, or (3) because they expected science to be more directly concerned with human welfare. Procedures. A type of card sort will be given to an experimental group of 75 college seniors and recent graduates who have changed their field of specialization from the natural sciences or engineering to the humanities or social sciences. The card sort will also be given to a control group of 46 highly successful senior science and engineering majors who are continuing their training in science. The sample will be drawn from Brooklyn College, Ohio State University, and Stanford University. Each subject will be asked to sort a set of 32 cards, each of which bears a statement that he is to consider advice he might wish to give a younger student who was seriously considering becoming a scientist. After the card sort each subject will be asked in an interview to discuss the reasons for selecting each of the four cards which he places at the positive and negative ends of the distribution. He will be asked also to indicate the card bearing the best advice and the one bearing the most misleading advice, and his reasons for selecting them. Finally, he will be asked to identify any other pertinent issues not represented by any of the cards. Data on the subject's grade average, the occupational status of his father, and his former and present major will be gathered. The card choices |