A Research Opportunity for Scientistsand Mathematicians

William C. Wolf, Jr.Research Coordinator, Office of Education Dept, of Health Education

and Welfare, Washington 25, D. C.

Since the Second World War, increasing numbers of private founda-tions and governmental agencies have made funds available for edu-cational research purposes. One of these agencies, the CooperativeResearch Program of the U. S. Office of Education, was established in1954 under Public Law 531, 83rd Congress, to encourage research andrelated activities which are of significance to education. In the wordsof the law, "the U. S. Commissioner of Education is authorized toenter into contracts and jointly financed cooperative arrangementswith universities, colleges, and State Education agencies for the con-duct of research, surveys, and demonstrations in the field of educa-tion."The program has expended approximately 36 million dollars to sup-

port nearly 750 projects since its inception. These projects deal with awide variety of topics which include studies of learning, cognition,motivation, achievement, programmed instruction, and curriculumdevelopment or reconstruction. Among subject matter areas whichhave been treated are the following: English, social studies, health,and physical education, art, music, biology, physics, mathematics,vocational education, psychology, and a number of foreign languages.Even though some scientific and mathematical projects have re-

ceived support within the program over the years, broad program op-portunities for the areas was not possible. Recently, new legislationand administrative reorganization have opened all aspects of the Co-operative Research Program to scientific and mathematical inquires.Examples of previously supported projects in these areas are listed asfollows:

Principle Investigator Project Title Federal Support

MATHEMATICS

Herbert J. KlausmeierUniversity of WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin

Alexander CalendraWashington UniversitySt. Louis, Missouri

Philip H. DuBoisWashington UniversitySt. Louis, Missouri

An Analysis of Learning Efficiency in $ 50,306.00Arithmetic of Mentally Retarded Childrenin Comparison with Children of Averageand High Intelligence

A Project in the Teaching and Develop- 12,995.00ment of an Integrated Physics�AlgebraCourse at the Ninth Grade Level

An Evaluation Study of Psychological Re- 9,254.00search on the Teaching of Mathematics

459

460School Science and Mathematics

Principle InvestigatorProject TitleFederal Support

Robert B. DavisSyracuse UniversitySyracuse, New York

Miriam L. GoldbergA Harry Passow

Teachers CollegeColumbia UniversityNew York, New York

A Modern Mathematics Program as It Per- 655,848.00tains to the Interrelationships of Mathe-matical Content, Teaching Methods, andClassroom Atmosphere (The MadisonProject�3 grants)

Accelerated and Enriched Curriculum Pro- 64,037.00grams for Academically Talented Students(Mathematics)

Patrick SuppesStanford UniversityPalo Alto, California

Max BebermanUniversity of IllinoisUrbana, Illinois

Harry BornsteinGallaudet CollegeWashington, D. C.

William A. BrownellUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeley, California

E. M. WrightV. H. ProctorWashington UniversitySt. Louis, Missouri

Experimental Teaching of Mathematical 44,514.00Logic to Talented Fifth and Sixth Graders

A Comparison Between Two Kinds of Sec- 47,393.00ondary Mathematics Courses with Respectto Intellectual Changes

Evaluation of High School Mathematics 24,119.00Programmed Texts When Used with DeafStudents

Arithmetical Abstractions: The MovementToward Conceptual Maturity under Dif-fering Systems of Instruction

Systematic Observation of Verbal Interac- 15,004.00tion as a Method of Comparing Mathe-matics Lessons

SCIENCE

Edgar Z. FriedenbergCarl NordstromBrooklyn CollegeBrooklyn, New York

Victor B. ClineUniversity of UtahSalt Lake City, Utah

Why Successful Students of the Natural $ 11,956.00Sciences Abandon Careers in Science

Comparison of Two Approaches to the Use 14,689.00of Biographical Information on StudentsWho Do and Who Do Not Achieve in HighSchool Science Courses

Howard E. CarrAuburn UniversityAuburn, Alabama

Computer Grading of Physics Laboratory 2,491.00Reports

Frederick B. DavisGerald S. LesserHunter CollegeNew York, New York

The Identification of Gifted Elementary 23,681.00School Children with Exceptional Scien-tific Talent

A Research Opportunity 461

Principle InvestigatorProject TitleFederal Support

William H. Cooley Career Development of Scientists: An 121,677.00Harvard University Overlapping Longitudinal StudyCambridge, Massachusetts

George C. Mallinson An Analysis of the Factors Related to the 6,000.00Western Michigan Motivation and Achievement of Students

University in Science Courses in the Junior and SeniorKalamazoo, Michigan High School

Archie N. Solberg Facilities and Equipment Presently Avail- 46,621.00University of Toledo able for Teaching Science in the HighToledo, Ohio Schools

William H. Cooley Use of Case Histories in the Development 18,743.00Harvard University of Student Understanding of Science andCambridge, Massachusetts Scientists.

Now mathematics and science proposals are eligible for supportunder the six types of activities of the Cooperative Research Program.Each of these activities is briefly described below.

1. Basic Research. Support is provided for projects designed to develop newknowledge about problems of significance to education.

2. Curriculum Improvement. Support is provided for developing curricula atany grade level and in any content area.

3. Demonstrations. Projects demonstrating the use of new educational tech-niques and of procedures based on research may be supported.

4. Developmental Activities. Support is provided for conferences, seminars, andindividual projects designed to develop and expand research or curriculaon a variety of topics.

5. Small Contracts. Small-scale research or development on educational prob-lems is supported through projects limited to $7500.00 in direct costs.

6. Research and Development Centers. Major financial support is earmarkedfor all-out assaults on specified pedagogical problems.

All submitted proposals are reviewed by one of the established ad-visory panels and/or carefully selected field consultants. These re-viewers are research or curriculum specialists, scientists, administra-tors, and other educational authorities. They evaluate proposals onthe basis of educational significance, design, personnel, facilities, andeconomic efficiency. Recommendations of panels and/or field con-sultants are reviewed by a Research Advisory Council, then sub-mitted to the Commissioner of Education for approval. This ad-ministrative process varies from about six weeks for Small Contractproposals to three or more months for Research and DevelopmentCenter proposals.

Applications are accepted only from universities, colleges, andState Departments of Education on September 1, December 1, andMarch 1, for Basic Research, Curriculum Improvement, and Demon-stration proposals. Research and Developmental Center proposals

462 School Science and Mathematics

are accepted on September 1 and March 1. Small Contract and Devel-opmental Activity proposals can be submitted anytime (the latteronly by invitation). Instructions and criteria for each type of activitymay be obtained from the Director, Cooperative Research Program,U. S. Office of Education, Washington, D. C. 20202.

WAY FOUND TO FORESEE CLEAR AIR TURBULENCEA way to tell when a plane will encounter the clear air turbulence, or "cat/7

that usually betrays its presence only by shaking up airplane passengers has beenfound.A change in surrounding air temperatures, measurable but too slight to read

on the usual cockpit instruments, indicates an airplane is approaching a regionof clear air turbulence, studies by Eastern Air Lines scientists have shown.

Eastern Air Lines is now developing a special instrument to be installed in jetcockpits that will visibly register the outside temperatures in fractional degrees.Warning lights will then flash to alert the pilot when certain limits in the tell-tale temperature changes are reached.A portable prototype of the device, called "cat-spy,n is being used on jet

flights by flight meteorologist Paul W. Kadlec in follow-up studies conductedunder contract with the U. S. Weather Bureau.The project of stalking for "cat^ was started in 1960 when the airliners chief

meteorologist, J. J. George, concluded that two wind forces, one horizontal andthe other vertical, had to be present to produce severe turbulence in clear air.The shearing effect of these opposing forces, he believed, produced the severityof turbulence encountered in upper air currents.

This turbulence reveals its presence by a temperature change as little as twodegrees Fahrenheit registered a minute or two before the cat is encountered. Atemperature change of about five degrees during a six-minute period is anotherwarning signal.Both of these signals give the pilot one minute, or ten miles at the speed of

modern jets, to maneuver before entering the turbulent region. Today’s jetscan withstand forces far beyond those registered during clear air turbulence.

There is no reliable evidence to show that cat caused any jet airliner accident.

TOP TIP OF SEA MOUNTAIN FOUND SOUTH OF PANAMAThe northern tip of an underseas mountain ridge has been charted in the

Pacific Ocean just south of Panama.It may be the top edge of a vast underwater ridge that extends several thou-

sand miles off the coast of South America and ends near the south tip of Chile,in the South Pacific Ocean.

Part of this ridge may be as broad as the mid-Atlantic Ridge in the NorthAtlantic Ocean, say scientists H. W. Menard and S. M. Smith, both of theScripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego;and T. E. Chase of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, U. S. Department ofCommerce.The underwater ridge is called the Galapagos Rise, after the Galapagos islands.It is broken into segments by east-west fracture zones and parts of it have

earthquakes, the scientists reported in Deep-Sea Research, a British oceano-graphic magazine,