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ABSTRACT
AN ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT

IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PROGRAM OF THE
MOTT INSTITUTE-OKEMOS SECONDARY SCHOOL PROJECT

BY

Louis John Esparo

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy
of the Environmental Quality Program of the Mott Institute—
Okemos Secondary School Project in the attitudinal, impact,
and action domains. Specifically, the study attempted to
answer the following questions:

1. Will the students' understanding of what they want
in life be enhanced during their enrollment in this course?
2. Will the students' ability to use resources be

enhanced during their enrollment in this course?

3. Will there be a positive change in the students'
attitudes about school during their enrollment in this
course?

4. Will the students' awareness of their privileges
and responsibilities as citizens and their participation in
citizenship activities be increased during their enrollment

in this course?

Louis John Esparo

5. Will there be a positive reaction to the course from
the students, their parents, and community people?

6. Will the nature of the students' activities outside
of school demonstrate an increased interest and participa-
tion in community affairs?

7. Will the students' ability in handling evidence and
data be increased during their enrollment in the course?

8. Will the students identify characteristics of the
course which make it unique and different from other courses

they have taken?

Procedure

In order to determine and measure relationships among
the variables of this study, three instruments were used.
The School Inventory was selected to provide a measure of
the extent to which students' attitudes about school were
positive or negative. The assessment of student reactions
to the course, student activities in the course, and student
accomplishment of course objectives was accomplished through
the use of the Secondary School Project Questionnaire,
written specifically for this study. The Project Interview
Schedule, developed by the writer for this study, was used
to assess the impact of the course on the parents of the
students in the course and community people.

Four dates were arranged for the administration of the

instruments. The School Inventory_and the Secondary School

Louis John Esparo

Project Questionnaire were administered during the first
week and last week of the first term. Interviews were
conducted for the duration of the term. The data gathered

were analyzed by analysis of significance between means.

Major Findings

 

l. The students' understanding of what they want in
life was shown to increase during their enrollment in the
course. An overall difference between group means was sig—
nificant at the .03 level.

2. The students' ability to use resources was signifi-
cantly greater at the end of the term than it had been at
the start. The difference between mean scores was signifi-
cant at the .01 level.

3. Students' attitudes about school at the end of the
term were found to have no significant difference as compared
to attitudes about school at the start of the term.

4. The students' awareness of their privileges and re-
sponsibilities as citizens and their participation in citizen
activities were shown to increase during the first term of
the course. A difference between means, significant at the
.06 level, was found. Additionally, 73 per cent of the
students indicated that the course increased their citizen—
ship awareness and participation.

5. The students' reaction to the course was shown to be

strongly positive. A difference between mean scores was

Louis John Esparo

significant at the .03 alpha level. Additionally, the
students' appraisals of the value of the course to them
indicated a range of a minimum of 52 per cent to a maximum
of 100 per cent of the class reacting positively to the
class, to class activities, to class objectives, and to
skill development.

Reactions of parents and community peOple were strongly
positive, also. Eighty per cent of the group indicated a
positive to very positive reaction to the class and its
value to students.

6. The nature of the students' activities outside of
school was shown to change significantly during their enroll-
.ment in this course. An increased interest and participation
in community affairs was found. The students' general out-
side activity revealed a difference in means which was
significant at the .001 level. More important, the difference
between key item activities, those directly related to course
objectives, was significant at the .0002 level.

7. The relationship of the course to the students'
ability to handle evidence and data is apparent. Eighty—four
per cent of the students indicated the course was valuable
to them in increasing their ability to handle evidence and
data.

8. Eighty—six per cent of the students identified unique
characteristics of the course. The characteristics were

those which the planners, teachers, and administrators of

Louis John Esparo

the course identify as unique characteristics of the course.
Students are perceptive enough to discern characteristics

of different learning models with which they are involved.

Questions for Further Study

1. What is the relationship between the length of the
class period, the number of periods per week, and the dura-
tion of the course and student attitudes about the course?

2. Do student attitudes about school diminish propor-
tionately to the number of years spent in school?

3. If parental reaction to the course were more nega-
tive than positive, what impact would it have on the stu-
dents' reaction to the course?

4. If students were graded by conventional means and
standards, would their attitudes about the course and the
nature of their activities in the course change signifi-
cantly?

5. What is the relationship between student attitudes
about school and the extent to which they participate in
planning their educational program?

6. Would the replication of this study within a school
district of differing size, socio-economic structure, and
geographical location produce significantly different

results?

AN ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT
IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PROGRAM OF THE

MOTT INSTITUTE-OKEMOS SECONDARY SCHOOL PROJECT

BY

Louis John Esparo

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of School Administration
and
Higher Education

1971

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is with deep appreciation that I acknowledge the
guidance, support, and encouragement given to me by my
chairman, Dr. Louis Romano. His good counsel and sense of
humor made a difficult task much easier, more meaningful,
and more enjoyable.

I wiSh to thank Dr. Clyde Campbell, whose foresight,
cooperation, and support have been invaluable to me.
Additionally, I wish to thank Dr. Dale Alam and Dr. James
McKee for serving on my committee and providing encourage-
ment and assistance whenever needed.

Appreciation is extended to Miss Jo Lynn Cunningham,
of the University's Research Consultation Office, for the
valuable assistance and direction given to me in matters of
research design and statistical analysis.

A special thank you to the C. S. Mott Foundation is in
order for providing the opportunity and financial assistance
which were necessary to complete this program.

To my parents, whose respect for education and its value
has been a source of inspiration and direction throughout my
life-~thank you.

The most important acknowledgment is made to my wife,
Mary Ann, whose unfailing love, indomitable confidence, and
unwavering support have been my source of strength and pur-
pose, and to my son, Mark, and daughter, Alicia, who are my

source of joy.

ii

CHAPTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES O . C O 0 ° 0 0 ° 0 O O O C . -. O

I. THE PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . .
Purpose of the Study . . . .
Need for the Study . . . . .
Importance to Education. . .
Theoretical Foundation of the

Definition of Terms. . . .
Limitations of the Study .
Hypotheses . . . . . . . .
Overview . . . . . . . . .

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The Philadelphia Parkway Program . .
John Adams High School . . . . . . .
The Personalized Education Program .
The Institute for Creative Studies .
The Carnegie-Mellon University Social
Studies Curriculum for Able High School
Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘Harvard Social Studies Project--Public

Issue Series. . . . . . . . . . . . .
High School Geography Project,‘Uhiversity

of Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sociological Resources for the Social

Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III. DESIGN OF THE STUDY . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The setting. 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 0
Characteristics of the Sample. . . . . . .
The School Inventory Instrument. . . . . .

iii

Page

vi

17
18
29
36
43
50
54
58

61
64

69
70

73
74

TABLE OF CONTENTS--Continued

CHAPTER Page

The Secondary School Project Questionnaire

Instrument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Mechanics of Survey Administration . . . . 82
Treatment of Data. . . . . . . . . . . . 84
The Mott Institute-Okemos Secondary School

Project_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA. . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Null Hypothesis 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Null Hypothesis 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Null Hypothesis 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Null Hypothesis 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Null Hypothesis 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Null Hypothesis 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Null Hypothesis 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Null Hypothesis 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Null Hypothesis 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . 125
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Purposes of the Study . . . . . . . . . 125

Limitations of the Study. . . . . . . . 126

Review of the Literature. . . . . . . . 126

Design of the Study . . . . . . . . . . 128
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Hypothesis 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Hypothesis 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Hypothesis 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Hypothesis 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Hypothesis 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Hypothesis 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Hypothesis 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Hypothesis 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Hypothesis 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Questions for Further Study. . . . . . . . 137
Reflections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS-—continued

CHAPTER Page
APPENDIXES a o o O O o o o o o o o o o o o e o o o 0 147
A. Secondary School Project Questionnaire
Pretest Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
B. Secondary School Project Questionnaire
162

POSt-test Form a o o o o o o o o o o o o

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE Page

3.1 Norms for High School Students on the School

 

Inventorl. Q 0 O O I O 0 O O O C D O O O O I 7 6
3.2 Student Evaluation of Course Impact. . . . . 81
3.3 Interview Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

3.4 Representative Behavioral Objectives of the
PrOject. . O O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O 89

4.1 Minimum and Maximum Values, Means, and
Standard Deviations of Students' Scores on
Attitudes About School . . . . . . . . . . . 100

4.2 Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Mean Scores on the School Inventory. 101

4.3 Minimum and Maximum Values, Means, and
Standard Deviations of Knowing What Students
Want in Life Scores. . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

4.4 Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Knowing What Students Want in Life
Mean Scores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

4.5 Minimum and Maximum Values, Means, and
Standard Deviations of Using Resources
scores 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O 104

4.6 Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Using Resources Scores . . . . . . . 104

4.7 Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Handling Evidence and Data Mean
scores 0 O O O O O O O C O O O . C O O O O O 106

4.8 Analysis of Significance of Difference

Between Carrying Plans into Action Mean
scores . O O O O O O O O O O O C . . Q O O O 108

vi

LIST OF TABLES--continued

TABLE

Page
Minimum and Maximum Values, Means, and
Standard Deviations of Citizenship Scores. . 109
Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Citizenship Scores . . . . . . . . . 110
Analysis of Significance of Difference
Between Outside Activity Mean Scores . . . . 118

vii

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM
Introduction

In Greek mythology an interesting character, Procrustes,
is described as the nemesis of weary travelers who ventured
too close to his domain. This giant, motivated by macabre
reasons known only to him, dismembered or stretched his
victims to fit his bed.

An analogy can be drawn between Procrustes' activities
and major curriculum trends during the past forty years.

The curriculum (programs and practices) of the l930—vintage
schools was one in which the learner was forced to fit the
program. The individualized, and sometimes nongraded,
approach to instruction was a distinct improvement, since it
attempted to shorten or lengthen the Procrustean bed to fit
the child. The personalized and humanized curriculum, which
Goodlad felt will reach its apex by the year 2000, is one in
which the learner, with teacher guidance, is encouraged, and
in fact expected, to build his own bed.

Webster defines‘humanism as a way of life centered

upon human interests or values. Only within a humanis-
tic conception of education and a humanistic conception

and conduct of the whole of schooling can a humanistic

curriculum take shape; that is, a curriculum which '

provides a way of life centered upon human interests
and values.1

Commenting further and clarifying his interpretation
of a humanistic conception of education, Goodlad stated:

Such a conception sets as its goal the develop-
ment of each individual's potential; fosters school
programs centered on man; takes teachers and teaching
seriously; and values each student singly because he

is a human being. The product of humanistic schooling

perceives himself as valuable but is not narcissistic

in this perception. He identifies with mankind--all
mankind.

The attempt to personalize and humanize instruction; to
make school more learner-centered; to bridge the gap between
what is taught and what is real; to emphasize how to learn
rather than what to learn; and to create a self-identified,
self-oriented, and self-directed learner is being made at all
levels in the educational ladder. However, many of the more
promising programs are being developed and implemented in
the high school setting. Philadelphia's Parkway Program;
Metro High School in Chicago; Adams High School in Portland,
Oregon; The Creative Studies Institute in Washington, D. C.;
The Personalized Education Program in Ypsilanti, Michigan;

and the World Understanding and Comparative Cultures Program

in Lansing, Michigan, to name just a few, are programs whose

 

1John Goodlad, "Direction and Redirection for Curricu-
lum Change," in Curriculum Change: Direction and Process,
ed. by Robert Leeper (Washington, D. C.: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1966), p. 10.

2Ibid., p. 11.

major emphasis is the active participation of the learner

in his education through living in and experiencing the real
world of the present, rather than passively preparing for

a life in a remote and distant future.

Recognizing the advantages accruing to the learner
through such an orientation to learning and instruction, the
Mott Institute for Community Improvement and students and
professional personnel from the Okemos School District
planned and implemented a social studies elective course for
high school juniors and seniors. The course, Environmental
Field Studies, has the following significant features:

1. The program is designed to offer maximum effective

help to each student in his personal becoming.

2. The program is designed to go straight to the
great social agenda of the present.

3. The community serves as the learning laboratory for
the student. Contacts with peOple outside of the
school, initiated by the student, are required.

4. Students, teachers, pre-student teaching students
from Michigan State University, and resource people
from the community and the University, all of whom
work on an informal and peer basis, constitute a
problem-solving team. Each team identifies a
problem, devises a strategy for solving the problem,
implements the strategy, and evaluates its effective-

ness.

5. Students are trained in data-gathering techniques,
problem-solving techniques, and evaluation tech-
niques through simulations, academic games, inde-
pendent study, and instruction with professional
staff.

6. The course is designed to train students to be
analysts, advocates, and mediators in relation to
environmental problems in the community as a whole.
Its intent is to produce social scientists, not
just teach social science.

Dr. Clyde Campbell, Director of the Mott Institute for

Community Improvement, expressed eloquently the main thrust

of the program when he wrote:

I feel that schools of the future have to sponsor
programs that bring youth into close grips with societal
problems. Young peOple and adults heed to probe
together possible solutions to dynamic social issues.
Young peOple have the moral right to ask for this
privilege. They are the ones who have the greatest
vested interest in the future.3

Purpose of the Study

This study has three main purposes:
1. To describe the Mott Institute-Okemos Secondary

School Project.

 

3Opinion expressed by Dr. Clyde Campbell in a letter to

a Curriculum Director, East Lansing, Michigan, August 3,

1970.

2. To deduce those characteristics of the Project
which make it unique.
3. To evaluate the efficacy of the Project in the

attitudinal, action, and impact domains.

Need for the Study

While reviewing the programs to be included in Chapter
II, Review of the Literature, it was noted that very few
of them have made provisions for a formal and structured
evaluation of the program. If evaluations are done they are
usually conducted by the administrator or curriculum director
who is responsible for the program. Students taking the
course, teachers working with the students, and community
peOple who have interaction with these students and teachers
provide incidental feedback to the evaluators. Most of the
evaluators have had no direct participation in the execution
of the program. Consequently, the evaluation of the program
is done from the perspective of the evaluator whose biases,
prejudices, and assumptions are not balanced or neutralized
by the perceptions, feelings, and attitudes of the students,
teachers, and other direct participants. Evaluations can be
made more comprehensive by gathering more information on the
tOpic or program under study. An excellent source of infor—
mation is a primary source-—the students, teachers, parents,
administrators, and community people who are direct and

active participants in the program. The input of the

information these sources provide increases the scope,
accuracy, and usefulness of the evaluation.

The present study will contain this type of an evalua-
tion and will satisfy the need for a comprehensive appraisal
of the Project, which will give direction to the future
development of the Environmental Field Studies course.

Daniel Roselle, editor of Social Education, the journal

 

of the National Council for the Social Studies, indicated
that evaluation of this type is needed and is mandatory
because:
Some teachers, buffeted by man-made winds of change,
may conclude that it is wise (a) to accept anything
branded new as highly desirable, or (b) to reject all

innovations as too confusing. Both reactions would be
unfortunate.4

Importance to Education

 

We live in an incredibly complex world. Our society, a
microcosm of the world's problems, is in a state of emer-
gency. Along with the comforts and pleasures we enjoy of
its productivity, our technology has generated side effects
that have converged upon us with bewildering speed: urban
decay, resource depletion, pollution, and contamination and
deterioration of air, sea, and earth. Concurrently, we are

plagued by the realization that annihilation is not

 

4Daniel Roselle, "Evaluations: A Policy Statement,"
Social Education, XXXIV (April, 1970), p. 381.

impossible and that we have an increasing number of people
which the world seems incapable of supporting. Superimposed
on this web of ills, the press for social justice, equality,
and humanization is felt more urgently.

Each of these problems is massive. Every one of them
commands our attention and demands resolution in an incred—
ibly short time--or else. None of these problems, taken
individually, can be solved quickly or simply. Taken col-
lectively, as they must be taken, they constitute the most
formidable and frightening agenda ever to face our society.
They demand a nation of effective and dedicated problem
solvers. Our schools are not producing enough of them.
Social studies drone on; civic education is primarily a
passive and sterile analysis of structure and of what is,
rather than of what can be and what should be. We tell
youngsters, not teach them; we talk to them, not with them;
we mold them, not draw them out; we make them dependent and
conforming, not independent and innovative. .Our education
system is seemingly out of touch with reality.

In the words of F. T. Wilhelms, executive secretary of
the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development:

Only a massive effort, bringing to bear resources
of mind-stretching diversity. has any chance of gener-
ating programs that can bring each youth face-to—face
with his realities and teach him to help. We cannot

depend forever on the political socialization of the
street corner.5

 

5F. T. Wilhelms, "Priorities in Change Efforts,"
Phi Delta Kappan, LI (March, 1970), p. 369.

The Mott Institute-Okemos Secondary School Project is
an attempt to meet these needs. The present study is an
attempt to answer the questions we are asking:

- How should we work with youngster?

- How do we bridge the gap between adults and
youth?

~ How do we relate school and education to the
real world?

- How do we train youngsters to become effective
and contributing members of society?

- What type of program gets the job done?

- How do we produce the problem solvers we need?

Theoretical Foundation of the Study

John Dewey, probably the most influential of all
American philosophers, gained an international reputation
for his pragmatic approach to philosophy, psychology, and
liberal politics. In all likelihood, however, his most
enduring influence is in the field of education. Believing
in the unity of theory and practice, he not only wrote on
the subject, but for a time participated in the laboratory
school for children which is connected with the University
of Chicago.

Dewey interpreted education as the scientific method
with which the individual studies his world and cumulatively
acquires knowledge of meanings and values. These outcomes,
moreover, become data for critical study and intelligent

and meaningful living.

In Democracy and Education6 Dewey made the most compre—
hensive statement of his position. His philos0phy, a state—
ment of the ”new education“ as he perceived it, was and is
an indictment of traditional education. However, he felt
that neither the old (traditional) nor the new education
was adequate because neither of them applies the principles
of a carefully developed philos0phy of experience. Yet
Dewey maintained the new education was grounded in reality
more than was the old.

Traditional education's main purpose or objective, as
he saw it, is:

... to prepare the young for future responsibili-
ties and for success in life, by means of acquisition
of the organized bodies of information and prepared
forms of skill which comprehend the material of in-
struction.7

Additionally, he stated:

Since the subject-matter as well as standards of
proper conduct are handed down from the past, the
attitudes of pupils must, upon the whole, be one of
docility, receptivity, and obedience. Books,
especially textbooks, are the chief representatives
of the lore and wisdom of the past.8

He saw the teacher's role as less than desirable.

Teachers, according to Dewey:

... are the organs through which pupils are brought
into effective connection with the material. They are
the agents through which knowledge and skills are com-
municated and rules of conduct enforced.9

 

6John Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1916).

7John Dewey, EXperience and Education (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1938), p. 18.

“Ibid.
91bid.

10

Dewey perceived the scheme of traditional education
to be one of imposition from above and from outside. Adult
standards, subject matter, and methods are imposed upon
those who are growing toward maturity. The gap between the
mature or adult products and the experiences and abilities
of the young which this scheme produces:

... is so wide that the very situation forbids
much active participation by pupils in the development
of what is taught. Theirs is to do-—and learn, as it
was part of the six hundred to do and die. Learning
here means acquisition of what is already incorporated
in books and in the heads of the elders. o
What is taught, then, is thought of as essentially

static. It is a finished product, paying little heed to the
ways in which it was built up originally or to changes that
will surely occur in the future.

It is to a large extent the cultural product of
societies that assumed the future would be much like
the past, and yet it is used as educational food in a
society where change is the rule, not the exception.11
The Secondary School Project, with which this study is

concerned, has its roots in the philosophy enunciated by
Dewey. Its scheme is unlike that which Dewey describes as
the scheme of traditional education. Yet its scheme is not
an acceptance of the many adulterated forms of progressive
education which were and are the products of a misunderstand-

ing and a misuse of Dewey's ideas. The Project is not a

rejection of organized subject matter; it does not proceed

 

1°Ibid., p. 19.

11Ibid.

11

as if any form of direction and guidance by adults were an
invasion of individual freedom; and it does not support the
idea that because education should be concerned with the
present and future, acquaintance with the past has little

or no role to play in education. It is, rather, a recogni-
tion of the components of Dewey's philosophy which give
meaning and direction to a program which is learner-centered,
learner-oriented, and dedicated to learning through meaning-
ful experiences by participating in problem solving in the
real and present world of the learner. The Secondary School

Project is rooted in the following principles of the new

education," which are contrasted with the principles it
rejects:

To imposition from above is opposed expression
and cultivation of individuality; to external discipline
is opposed free activity; to learning from texts and
teachers, learning through experience; to acquisition
of isolated skills and techniques by drill, is Opposed
acquisition of them as means of attaining ends which
make direct vital appeal; to preparation for a more or
less remote future, is opposed making the most of the
opportunities of present life; to static aims and
materials is opposed acquaintance with a changing
world.12

The present study, which is an attempt to ascertain the
effectiveness of the Project and to discover those compon-
ents of the Project which make it meaningful and useful to the
learner, is motivated by an important question which Dewey
posed after stating that education should emphasize the

freedom of the learner:

 

 

121bid., pp. 19-20.

12

Very well. A problem is now set. What does
freedom mean and what are the conditions under which
it is capable of realization?13

Definition of Terms

Attituder-A feeling or emotion toward a fact or con-
dition. The sum total of one's inclinations and feelings
about any specific topic.14

Khowing what one wants in life——A condition having the
following characteristics:

1. A clear idea of the direction one wants his
life to take.

2. An awareness of one's important beliefs.

3. A recognition of problems in relation to one's
own personal living and to society as a whole.

4. Attacking problems as a whole, and in relation
to other problems, rather than one at a time.

Using resources--Identifying and working with people
who can be helpful in solving a problem; using knowledge
and past experience in solving problems; having familiarity
with a variety of printed materials and public institutions;
and using these sources for acquiring information, evidence,

and further experiences.

 

13Ibid., p. 22.

14L. L. Thurstone and E. J. Chave, The Measurement of
Attitude (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929),
p0 6.

13

Handling evidence and data--The condition of inventory-
ing possible causes, outcomes, and strategies in attacking
a problem; of collecting facts in a systematic fashion; and
of being objective in dealing with facts, opinions, and
people related to a problem.

Carrying plans into action--After systematically reach—
ing conclusions, the condition of applying these conclusions
to one's daily life activities.

Citizen--A person characterized by the active and partic—
ipatory exercise of his privileges, rights, and responsibili-

ties as a free man.

Limitations of the Study

1. As is true of any study, the validity of this study
is affected by the degree of frankness and sincerity of
response to the instruments administered.

2. The setting for this Project is one class in Okemos
High School. To insure an in-depth study and in recognition
of a limiting time factor, this study is concerned with the
people and setting directly related to the Project.

3. The finding of a relationship between positive
changes in the attitudes and activities of the students,
teacher, administrators, parents, and community members and
the Secondary School Project will be viewed as correlational

and not causal.

14

Hypotheses

Hypothesis I-—There will be a positive change in the
students' attitudes about school during the first term of
their enrollment in this course.

Hypothesis II--The students' understanding of what they
want in life will be enhanced during the first term of their
enrollment in this course.

Hypothepis III--During the first term of their enroll-
ment in this course, the students' ability to use resources
will be enhanced.

Hypothepis IV-—The students' ability in handling evi-
dence and data will be increased during their enrollment in
the first term of this course.

Hypothesis V--During their enrollment in the first term
of this course, the students' ability to carry their plans
into action will be increased.

Hypothesis VI--The students' awareness of their privi—
leges and responsibilities as citizens and their participa-
tion in citizen activities will be increased during the first
term of their enrollment in this course.

Hypothesis VII—-During the first term of this course
there will be a positive reaction to the course from the
students themselves, the parents of the students, and commun-
ity members.

Hypothesis VIII--After the first term, students will

identify characteristics of the course which they feel make

15

it unique and different from other courses they have taken.
Hypothesis IX--During their enrollment in the first

term of this course, the nature of the students‘ activities

outside of school will demonstrate an increased interest and

participation in community affairs.

Overview

It has been the intent of Chapter I to describe the pur-
pose of the study and to explain why there is a need for
programs such as the Secondary School Project, and evalua-
tions of these programs. It was essential that the theoreti—
cal basis upon which the Project and this study were devised
be explained in some detail. Significant features of the
Mott Institute-Okemos Secondary School Project were listed.
Concepts vital to the understanding of the Project and this
study were explained, followed by a statement of nine hypothe-
ses to be investigated.

In Chapter II, a review of the following programs will
be given:

1. The Philadelphia Parkway Program

2. The John Adams High School Program

3. The Creative Studies Institute in Washington, D. C.

4. The Personalized Education Program of the Ypsilanti
Public Schools, Ypsilanti, Michigan

5. A High School Social Studies Curriculum for Able
Students, Carnegie-Mellon University

16

6. Harvard Social Studies Project-—Public Issues
Series

7. High School Geography Project, University of
Colorado

8. The SRSS Program (Sociological Resources for the
Social Studies)

The significant features of these programs will be
summarized in the final section of the chapter.

The design of the study will be described in Chapter
III, including a description of the Okemos School District
and the nature of the sample used. The Mott Institute-
Okemos Secondary School Project will be described also.
Additionally, the chapter will include a description of the
instruments used in the study. A discussion of methods of
administration of the instruments and their scoring will be
followed by a statement of the statistical methodology to
be used.

Chapter IV will be devoted to an analysis of the data
gathered in this study. Findings will be given in the same
order as were the hypotheses presented in Chapter I.

The last chapter will contain a summary of the study
and the conclusions reached. Concluding this chapter will
be implications and a list of recommendations for further
study.

Having presented the purpose of this study, its need,
its hypotheses, and its theoretical base, it is now essen—

tial that a review of the programs listed above be undertaken.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

A review of the literature for this study will consist
of a description of eight programs which have gained
national attention. These programs will be described in two
distinct sections of this chapter.

The first section will include a description and analy-
sis of those programs variously described as schools without
walls, alternative schools, learner—centered programs, anti-
dropout programs, and the like. The one common characteris-
tic of the four programs in this section is an expression of
dissatisfaction with traditional methods of instruction,
traditional organizational structure, and traditional subject
matter.' Each of them has a personalized and humanized
orientation to high school education.

During this decade a new phenomenon appeared in social
studies education in the form of the national social studies
projects. These projects commanded an abundance and quality
of resources not formerly available for curriculum develop-
ment. Most were funded by the federal government or by
private foundations. The majority of these projects recom-

mend a new social studies Which seeks in various ways to

17

18

remove the inadequacies of traditional social studies courses.
The second section of this chapter will include a description
and analysis of four of these projects.

A review of the eight programs in this manner will pro—
vide an informational background, against which the subsequent
analysis of data pertaining to the efficacy of the Mott
Institute-Okemos Secondary School Project can be viewed with

greater clarity.

The Philadelphia Parkway Program

An interesting fact was reported by Donald W. Robinson1
in an article he wrote; according to Harvey Haber, founder
of the New SChools Exchange, over 700 independent schools
have been founded during the past three years. Teachers,
parents, and students are seeking alternatives to the stulti-
fying climate which predominates in so many public schools.
Two or three new "alternative" schools are born every day,
and every day one dies or gives up its freedom. As the new
schools appear and disappear, some in all probability will
break genuinely new ground and others will simply reproduce
errors of past ventures.

One which has broken new ground, and is operating in

the public school setting, not an independent school setting,

 

1Donald W. Robinson, "Alternative Schools: Challenge to
Traditional Education?" Phi'Delta Kappan, LI (March, 1970),
p. 374.

19

is The Parkway Program in Philadelphia.
It is not possible to improve the high school;

it has reached the end of its development. We now

need a new kind of educational institution.2

This announcement of the death of the high school as a
viable place for learning has been made by a growing number
of students, causing educators to cluck about student dissi-
dents. But this particular obituary came from John Bremer,
who directs the Parkway Program.

Bremer went to Philadelphia in August, 1968, from
New York City, where he had been superintendent in one of the
three decentralization districts. Prior to that he was pro-
fessor at the Brooklyn Center of Long Island University and
at the New School for Social Research in New York. From 1962
to 1966 he was professor at the University of Leicester,
Graduate school of Education, working with prospective and
practicing teachers in the Leicestershire Plan schools,
developing new methods of teacher training and new approaches
to learning, and publishing.

He originally came to the United States in 1951 as a
Fulbright Fellow; he has graduate degrees from the University
of Cambridge, the University of Leicester, St. John's College,
and also has worked with the Tavistock Institute of Human

Relations. In 1965, he became a member of the British School

 

2Editors of Education U. s. A., "Schools Without Walls:
No Longer a Dream," The Shape of Education:;or 1970-71, XII
(September, 1970), p. 5.

20

of Archaelogy in Athens, and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society in 1966.

Once Bremer began functioning as Director of the Park-
way Program, it became obvious to observers in the school
district that he was "the right man in the right place at

"3 Typical of his approach was his insistence.

the right time.
from the earliest days of his appointment, that, contrary to
popular belief, there would be no shuttle buses connecting
the various Parkway institutions. Students would have to
find their own way of getting from one place to another, no
matter what the distance. The decision reflects a philosophy
that has come to dominate the program and to determine its
basic shape and style:

Bremer is committed to individual growth, creativ-
ity and autonomy; he is an enemy of bureaucracies that
tell peOple exactly what to do and think (or how to get
to a destination); he delights in public criticism of
the educational establishment.4
At the opening of the summer session in July, 1969,

Bremer told a group of students entering the program for the
first time:

In terms of behavior and attitudes, you're going

to have to unlearn everything you've learned in your
public school education so far, as quickly as possible.5

3Henry s. Resnik, "High School With No Walls, "
Pennsylvania Education Journal, LVI (May-June, 1970), p. 9.

4Ibid.

sIbido p ppo 9-10.

21

Having presented this biographical sketch of the Parkway
Program's director and providing some insights into his
thinking, a description of the program is in order.

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is the downtown area of
Philadelphia, in which some of the city's great institutions
and museums are located. The program, named after the Parkway,
dismisses the traditional notion that learning must be
acquired within four-walled boxes called classrooms, and
acknowledges that life and learning are all part of the same
on-going process. The city itself is the classroom, and the
life of the city is the curriculum.

The program began early in 1969 with 140 students, and
this year the school has 500 students. The only criterion
for admission is the expressed interest of the prospective
student and his or her parents. Students are selected by
public lottery; the names are drawn from a hat (10,000 stu-
dents volunteered for the first drawing). An equal number
of selections is allowed for each school district, so that
the racial and economic makeup of the student body will re-
flect that of the city's population. The ratio is currently
60 per cent black and 40 per cent white. A few suburban and
parochial school students have been added to the mix.

Presently, 500 students, 30 faculty, and 30 university
city interns constitute the Parkway community. Three basic
units, called communities, comprise the organization of the

school. The three communities--Alpha, Beta, and Gamma--are:

22

.-. small enough to make possible creative experi-
mentation in the teaching-learning process. The lower
than average faculty—student ratio of 16 to l is ‘
necessary in order to give faculty time to develop new
skills for a new kind of teaching and for planning.6
Students are in all four of the regular high school grades,
making possible a carry-over in the student body from this
year to next that will greatly facilitate expansion of the
program.

For students, one of the greatest attractions of the
Parkway Program is the freedom it allows. While each unit
or community has taken on a unique character of its own,
certain structural elements are common to the entire program:

Tutorial,Groups: These groups of about fifteen students,
one teacher, and one university intern are the principal base,
analogous to a family, of each student's career in the pro-
gram. The tutorial, which meets for two hours four days a
week, is part family, part encounter group, and part guidance
service. It is also responsible for providing remedial math
and reading for students, and for charting the overall
curriculum. Some tutorial groups plan parties and outings,
others organize informal athletic events, and others agree
to study a subject of mutual interest. The tutorials are
also responsible for the extensive written evaluations of

both students' and teachers' work that take the place of

grades.

 

6John Bremer, The Parkway Program (Philadelphia: The
Philadelphia Public Schools, 1970), p. 11.

23

Management Group: Each student may choose to partici-
pate in a management group. This group has three main
functions: (a) to perform the functions and provide the
services necessary for the Parkway's successful day—to—day
operation, (b) to involve students meaningfully in determining
the nature of the program, and (c) to help students develop
the skills of management which are the source of power in
the community.

These groups have formed around the problem areas of
self-government, public relations, office management, athlet-
ics, facilities, fund raising, extracurricular activities,
the printing of a Parkway newspaper, and, in conjunction
with professors from Temple University, attempting a scien—
tific analysis of the effects of the Parkway Program on its
students.

The Town Meeting: The town meeting occurs once each
week, and offers an opportunity for the whole community to
discuss and resolve common problems. Sometimes a shouting
session, sometimes an orderly public debate, the meeting
has emerged as the principal form of government in each unit.
Discussions range from such basic questions as what kinds of
rules and philosophies the unit should adopt to such mundane
matters as the filling out of forms, but the emphasis through—
out is on total participatory democracy.

The Aggdemic Curriculum: The school offers a potpourri

of things to do, to explore, and to learn. The catalogue has

24

more than 250 offerings and 200 cooperating institutions.
Institutional offerings are those courses offered,
generally at the request of the student, by participating
Parkway institutions. Law enforcement is taught at Police
Department headquarters, English at the public library,
and art history at an art museum. A jeweler teaches jewel
cutting; a doctor, health services. Classes are taught by
professionals, tradesmen, scholars, community people-—all
of them volunteering their services.

A typical student's schedule includes a pollution and
survival course, a law class at the county courthouse, a
Spanish course, a child development course working with
preschoolers, and work experience in restaurant management—-
making sandwiches at a local eatery.

To meet state requirements (the requirements for gradu-
ation are the same as those of any other high school in
Philadelphia), students take English, math, and social
studies. However, a math course may be a computer class at
the Franklin Institute; an English course may be "Multimedia
Journalism"; and social studies may be a seminar on Vietnam
taught by the American Friends Service Committee staff.

Conventional grading patterns are not used. Students
are graded by long, written evaluations of their progress.

Each student is encouraged to participate in a program
of individual study in an area of his own interest. This

may be done in collaboration with one or two other students.

25

Additionally, students are encouraged to participate in
work programs of the Parkway institutions as an extra,
non-required component. This can lead to vacation jobs or
to career possibilities. Also, there is the opportunity
of community service in a variety of social agencies.

Faculty §e1ection by Committee: Most teachers in the
Parkway Program are selected by committees consisting of
university students, parents from the community, visiting
teachers, and students and teachers from other units.
After the initial interviews, a few dozen of the most
promising applicants are assigned the task of deciding what
process of elimination they should use in filling the
limited number of vacancies, and are then observed by
Bremer and key advisers as they thrash out the problem.

What may be the most important factor in the program's
apparent success is the emphasis on community that has come
to motivate most participants as if it were a religious
force. As some observers noted:

Parkway-has about it an exciting informality. It
is a place that demonstrates to students its belief
that ideas and experiences are more important than
order. The students seem to thrive on their new free—
dom. They often show a maturity, a sense of being
about their own business, rarely found in people their
age. "In my old school, education was something that
went on inside the school but your real life was out-

side.‘‘ a student explained. "Here, the school is your
real life. That's what makes everything count."7

 

7Editors of Education U. s. A., op. cit., p. 8.

26

The various structural elements have certainly en-
couraged the attitudes expressed above. But it is generally
agreed that Bremer's inspiring, almost charismatic, vision
is equal to or stronger than any other single factor.
According to Mario Fantini, the program's liaison with its
initial sponsor, the Ford Foundation, it is John Bremer who
has made the program "human."

The program has a distinct practical advantage: it's
a bargain. Although a $100,000 grant from the Ford Founda-
tion helped get Parkway started, the program now operates on
the standard Philadelphia public school allotment of approxi-
mately $680 per student annually. Capital costs barely exist;
there's no massive plant to build or maintain. Most of the
funds go toward teacher and intern salaries and other speci-
fically educational costs.

Parkway has side benefits that any school administrator
would like. .Discipline and racial problems are minimal, and
there has been no evidence of hard drug usage. The freedom
of the school, Bremer said, "... reduces the hostility and
tensions that would aggravate these situations."8

Some educators in the nation see the Parkway Program as
applicable to their school systems. Chicago has adopted the
”schools without walls" concept and Opened its on—location

Metropolitan High School in February, 1970. New York is

 

8Ibid.

27

reportedly considering implementation of the concept, also.
In September, 1970, the Washington, D. C., school board
began its "school without walls" pilot project. Washington's
Assistant Superintendent, George Rhodes, said the program
was needed for "... students with talent who might otherwise
join the growing list of dropouts due to a restlessness with
our structured system."9

The concept is catching on. Mario Fantini, who is also
one of Ford's leading educational theorists, explains why he
feels this is so:

It's founded on a new principle of what education

is. The existing system isn't working. If you look

at the student unrest as a symptom of the inability of

the educational system, forged in another century, to

be responsive to the concerns of this generation, it

seems that many of those concerns would be addressed in

a Parkway-like schoo1.1°

The concept and the Program have their critics, also.
The program has been attacked as just another of the board's
fancy experiments, and there have been threats to block city
funding. Yet the Parkway Program costs no more than what
the board would need to educate the Parkway students in regu—
lar high schools.

Some observers argue that despite his emphasis on indi—

vidual initiative, Bremer has often been hypocritically,

arbitrarily authoritarian. A few teachers contend, moreover,

 

9Lawrence Feinberg, "D. C. Plans School Without Walls,“
The Washington Post, May 21, 1970, p. 1.

1°Resnik, op. cit., p. 11.

28

that the most important advantage of the program is not its
structure but the intimacy provided by a smaller teacher—
student ratio-—an intimacy that Bremer may have trouble
maintaining as the program grows.
An observer noted this intimacy when he wrote:
In the brief time we had to visit all three com-
munities of Parkway, I gleaned what seemed to be a
consistent positive attitude toward the Openness and
self-responsibility aspects of the program's Opera-
tion. At a time when "humanizing the school" has
become a universal but unrealized goal, Parkway may
be well on the way toward achieving humanization.
There is tolerance, friendliness, respect, and common
purpose--all on a true people—to-people basis.11
Though riding the crest of a wave, Bremer appreciates
what he refers to as the ”messiness" of learning. He is
the first to admit that the first sessions were not without
their problems. Principally, too many students have not
received the training in basic skills which is supposed to
be a primary function of the tutorials. He is confident,
however, that the problems will be solved. Solving educa-
tional problems is, after all, what the program is about.
One wonders how Parkway's college-bound students will
do in college. How will they deal with the structured and
regimented program? How will students accustomed to learn-
ing on the scene respond to learning only by print, through

required readings, the production of papers, and required

answers? It seems that Parkway's success will be measured,

 

11James Greenberg, "A Visit to the School Without Walls,"
Phi Delta Kappan, LI (May, 1970), p. 481.

29

in part, by the questions and dilemmas its graduates pose

for higher education.

John Adams High School

Having begun its second year of Operation in September,
1970, the John Adams High School in Portland, Oregon, is
literally the creation of its principal, Robert Schwartz.

In 1967, when Schwartz was in his final year of study at
the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he and six other
secondary school teachers set out to develOp a model for a
school program. They wanted one which would make possible
the achievement of many of the educational objectives that
were commonly voiced by educators but had not been estab-
lished in practice nor adequately tested.

What they envisioned was a clinical high school, one
in which instruction of students, curriculum development,
pre-service and in-service training of teachers, and research
could all go on simultaneously. They believed a high school
could be made to function somewhat like a teaching-hospital
does in medicine.

The seven graduate students developed a detailed plan
of how they believed a high school should Operate. Then they
sent their proposal to six metropolitan school districts.
They received several replies indicating an interest in their
plan, but were most impressed by what is described as an

enthusiastic reply from Portland school officials and school

30

board members- The result was the construction of a $5.8
million high school and implementation of Schwartz'
clinical high school program.

The Curriculum: The curriculum at Adams, which is
split into general education, problem—solving courses and
an electives program, is used as an educational means, not
an educational end. It is seemingly predicated on a belief
expressed by Wilhelms:

A curriculum isn't something you teach. It's
something you teach with. The side effects--what the
learner has left when he has forgotten most of the
content-—is almost always more important than the
direct effects. And we have got to learn to play for
the ones we want.12
The general education part of the curriculum is one in

which students spend about half of each school day, either
the morning or the afternoon, on different teams that study
ways to cope with problems such as air and water pollution,
unemployment and welfare, improving student-adult understand—
-ing, keeping the automobile from destroying the metrOpolitan
area, reducing the crime rate, and lessening race-related
friction in the school and the community.

There is no ability grouping or chronological grade

placement in these problem-solving sessions. Every team is

a mixture of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen.

 

12Fred T. Wilhelms, "Humanization Via the Curriculum,"
in Humanizing Education: The Person in the Process,‘édl by
Robert Leeper (Washington, D. C.: Association for Super—
Vision and Curriculum Development, 1967), p. 26.

31

The problem-solving tactic also avoids the compartment-
alization of subjects. Students, rather than studying
English, math, social studies, and science as specific
courses, deal with all of these basic subjects as parts of
a study of a given real problem during the general educa-
tion program.

As an example of the value of the general education
approach, Schwartz refers to an incident that occurred just
as Adams opened in the fall of 1969. Several Portland high
schools began the year with serious race—related student
problems, resulting in numerous assaults and police action.
The most severe disturbances were at Adams, where the
philosophy is to bring together students from all backgrounds,
representing many ranges of abilities, and where the student
body is 22 per cent black.

General education study teams got involved in the action
and undertook to develop solutions to Adams' racial problems.
In fact, race relations occupied the whole general educa-
tion program for the first three weeks Of school. A race
relations committee held assemblies where students could talk
matters out, and black and white student leaders began to
take command of the situation. Since then, although trouble
hasn't stopped completely, there has been no major racial
flare-up at the school.

Schwartz explained the problem-solving approach:

32

Students need to learn what will help them func-
tion effectively in society, regardless of what type of
work or what further education they plan to go into
after high school.

The important thing is that students should learn
the techniques of problem solving and how to adjust to
change. These abilities should prove useful throughout
the rest of their lives.13
Of the elective courses in the second part of the cur—

riculum, some require a full school year and others are mini-
courses which last approximately six weeks. The mini-courses
are varied and appeal to different individual interests:
computer application and technology, astrology, badminton,
classical and modern music, and so on. Schwartz explains the
large number of elective courses and the free time in which
students can study what they wish:

Give kids a change to try some of the things
they're interested in. They must have the chance to be
curious, to explore adult roles and have meaningful
choices.14
Academic and college-bound students can use the elective

periods for taking in-depth and continuous studies in math,
English, physical and social sciences, history, and other
college requirement courses. Additionally, for those students
who are not college bound, the school offers wide-ranging,
job-related programs.

Unlike the Parkway Program, only teachers on the profes-

sional staff work with the students. However, Schwartz and

 

13John Guernsey, "Portland's Unconventional Adams High,"
American Education, VI (May, 1970), p. 4.

14Ibidop pp. 4-5.

33

his staff hope eventually to encourage business, industry,
and the professions to participate in the school's training
program and to sponsor students in half-day, on-the-job
training apprenticeships. They also plan to invite business
and industrial representatives as guest lecturers and
assistant teachers, and to arrange for some vocational and
technical classes at outside plants during the evenings.

For students who are not attracted by the academic or
vocational programs taught at the school, there is a mobile
school where they spend their general education time.

A bus, usually carrying thirty students, transports them on
scheduled visits to industrial plants, art museums, city
government operations, airports, projects of various types,
and so on. The students write, tell, and dramatize their
experiences when they return to school, and their teachers
try to motivate them toward more concrete learning experi—
ences.

Adams' staff, like Parkwayfs, believes in the educative
influence Of the community and its institutions. As Melby
noted:

The educative influence of the community upon

the individual is apparent. This influence includes

all agencies and institutions with which the indi-

vidual comes into contact. The learning the individual
acquires in the community may be more penetrating,

more satisfying and more lasting than that which
occurs in the classroom.15

 

15Ernest O. Melby, The Community School and Its Adminis-
tration, ed. by Clyde Campbell, III (July, 1965), p. 3.

 

34

Organization: To combat the impersonality of large-
ness, Adams operates as four smaller high schools in one--
at least for the general education program and for adminis-
trative purposes such as counseling and disciplining.

Each smaller school, known as a house, has about 400 students,
mixed as to chronological class, race, and social and
economic background. Two teams of teachers, about ten per
team, plus a guidance counselor, work with the students in
each house; the same teachers stay with the same students

as much as possible for more than one academic year.

While the ultimate responsibility for the Operation Of
the school rests with the principal, Adams is experimenting
with a plan of majority—rule voting by students and teachers.
With the aim of teaching students how democracy works, so
they will be better qualified citizens when they reach voting
age, this plan duplicates, in some respects, the functioning
of the United States Federal Government.

Schwartz explained:

The whole issue of deciSion-making in conventional
high schools is wrong. The students and faculty
members want more voice so we're experimenting with the
delegation of authority.16
Adams has a school legislature made up of a student—

elected student senate and a faculty-elected faculty senate.

Joint committees representing these bodies meet on issues of

curriculum, grading (grades are optional at Adams-—students,

 

16Guernsey, op. cit., p. 5.

35

with parental approval, choose to receive either a regular
grade or a pass-fail notice), or on policies that most
directly affect students and teachers.

In other cases the senates function separately. If
issues involve student conduct, dress codes, and so on, the
policies are made and enforced by the student senate. If
cases involve working conditions and other areas of interest
to teachers, they are dealt with by the faculty senate.

Schwartz and his assistants constitute the executive
branch of the school government. Changes or new policies
developed and approved by the senates, jointly or separately,
require the principal's signature before they can become
school policies. Although Schwartz has veto power, he can
be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the senates.

A judicial branch of the school-governing plan is cur-
rently being planned.

In its efforts to have an impact on the teaching pro—
fession, Adams includes numerous clinical programs to influ-
ence teacher preparation, teacher enthusiasm for teaching,
and community involvement. The clinical approach is felt to
be one of the most important aspects of this experimental
school. Challenging the traditional education concept that
colleges and universities are the best settings for training
teachers and conducting educational research, Schwartz

contended:

36

The truth is that a university is just not a very
relevant setting for training teachers and doing much
educational research. As it is now, a college student
training to be a teacher does not get into a regular
school classroom until very late in his training--the
last part of the senior year. He gets far too much of
his material from theory and hearsay from a professor.1

7

Adams school officials, in cooperation with officials
of Reed College, Lewis and Clark College, and Oregon State
University, have developed a program which permits junior
year teacher trainees to receive college credit for working
in Adams' classrooms. Over 100 of these trainees are teamed
with the school's regular teachers in actual classroom situ-
ations.

After a shaky start, made so by expressions of appre—
hension about the school's experimental and novel approach
to education, Adams is prospering. Fears of parents and stu—
dents alike have been allayed by increasing evidence that
What Adams is doing is working. As one parent observed:

I'm all for Adams. My daughter went to another
high school for two years, but this is the first time

she has taken the initiative to do studies and projects
on her own.1

The Personalized Education Program

One of the ideals educators hold sacred is that educa-
tion should meet the needs, goals, interests, and abilities

of the student. Individualized instruction is commonly

 

17I§idol pp. 5-60
laIbid., p. 3.

37

identified as the vehicle to realize the ideal. However,
as Campbell has noted:

The contradictions between what administrators and
teachers say and what they do is like Mark Twain's
comment about the weather. Educators have talked about
organizing instruction to meet the needs, interests,
and abilities of individuals but few have put such a
system into operation.19
The Personalized Education Program in the Ypsilanti,

Michigan, Public Schools is an exception to Campbell's Ob-
servation. It evolved through need and desire. The need
came from a significant and increasing number of junior high
school students who demonstrated an affinity for trouble and
fit the profile of the potential dropout:

These students were so troubled and troublesome
that the Ypsilanti junior highs suffered with them.
Academics were foreign or frustrating for many and
their attendance was lax or forced. Their attention
spans were deplorably short, their attention-getting
devices sometimes drastic. A few had police records
and all shared school reputations of problem kids or
the incorrigibles. Most displayed little respect for
authority of any kind and fought verbally and physical-
ly with school personnel.2
The desire that developed into the program came from

teachers who wanted something done about these youngsters,
and from administrators seeking ways to meet the diverse
needs of these students. They realized there was a great
need for some special type of help for these problem-racked

students. An alternate plan was needed to create a better

 

19Clyde Campbell, The Community School and Its Adminis—
tration, VIII (February, 1970), p. 2.

2°Reuben Chapman, A Personalized Education Program"
(Ypsilanti: Ypsilanti Public Schools, 1969), p. 6. (Mimeo-
graphed.)

38

atmosphere for them and to take the burden off the regular
classroom teacher. With these thoughts in mind, Project
P. E. P. (Personalized Education Program) was developed.

The Students: When the program began in January, 1969,
ten students, divided equally between the two junior high
schools in Ypsilanti, were admitted to the program. The
number of students was determined by considering the facility
housing the program (a five-room house), transportation
(a seven-passenger bus is used), and the plan to keep the
student-teacher ratio at five to one. The additional selec-
tion criteria are categories which are descriptive of the
students for whom the program is intended. These categories
are:

l. A student who regularly disrupts the entire school
operation.

2. Frequently non-readers or non-performers, not
necessarily due to lack of intelligence.

3. A student who is frequently angry and hostile.

4. One who has little respect for himself and others.
5. One who has a poor attendance record.

6. One whose home life is frequently not normal.

7. A student who has no interest in extracurricular
activities.21

Students were finally selected, using information sup-
plied by the school counselors, teachers, and parents, and

achievement and aptitude tests.

 

‘21Patricia Dignan, "Project P. E. P." (Ypsilanti:
Ypsilanti Public Schools, 1969), p. l. (Mimeographed.)

39

Program Gogig: A policy advisory group, composed of
administrators, teachers, program directors, and parents,
evolved the main goals of the program. With the awareness
that these students are potential dropouts and very hostile
toward most adults, it was decided that merely giving them
the opportunity for a new situation, not as threatening as
a regular program, would be of value by itself. Emphasis in
the program would not be on the academic program but on the
attempt to help each student get along better with other
people, and to look more closely at himself and his own
actions. The following goals, then, were laid down and are
subjected to continuous scrutiny and evaluation:

1. Increasing the individual's sensitivity to others'
feelings and emotions.

2. Learning to be a leader of a small group.

3. Developing the capacity to care for others Who are
less fortunate than oneself.

4. Learning to utilize community resources for one's
own welfare.

5. Change the student's self—image.22

The primary purpose, then, is to change the student's
attitudes toward himself and others, while the secondary
purpose is academic preparation so the student will be pre-
pared to re-enter the regular academic program when it is

appropriate to his needs, interests, and abilities.

 

22Ibid., p. 2.

40

The Curriculum: The student's day in P. E. P. is
approximately three hours in duration. After an orientation
session, during which the two teachers spend the three-hour
sessiOn in individual and small group counseling, the pro-
gram evolves into a three-segment plan.

The first segment, approximately one hour, is spent on
individual counseling and activities of personal choice.
Students who are not involved with either teacher spend time
in informal discussions, pool playing, dancing, or working
at housekeeping chores.

The middle segment consists of individualized or small
group instruction in math, English, spelling, social studies,
and reading. Paperback books, magazines, newspapers, and a
Xerox reading unit, The Way It Is, are the primary instruc—
tional materials. The Xerox unit consists of a series of
records, a book for each record--the printed form of what is
heard on the record, and a workbook containing questions and
exercises based on the content of each record chosen for use.
Each record has a theme and is selected to meet an interest
or need of the student. It may be an exercise involving a
fight between two teenagers. All the conditions relating to
the incident are dramatized on the record. Then, the
listener is guided through an analysis and evaluation of
these conditions. The objective is to illustrate ways to
handle these problems and how to select alternative behaviors

resulting in positive rather than negative consequences.

41

The final segment is devoted to measurement and evalua—
tion sessions. During this time, evaluations of the day's
program are done and a plan for the next day's session is
developed. Additionally, this time is used for quizzes,
keeping student records, and general administrative proce-
dures.

A popular component of P. E. P. is the Opportunity
afforded students to earn money. Pupils are paid to maintain
the house which serves as their school. In teams of two,
students are scheduled for a week's work, for which they are
paid $.97 per hour. If one member of a team is absent, his
team partner assumes his responsibilities and is paid accord-
ingly. If both members of a team are absent, the work is
done by other students. They are selected randomly and
enjoy the chance to earn extra money.

Field trips are conducted on a regular basis; points of
interest in the community are visited. Visitations to local
parks for a picnic and team sports are popular with the stu-
dents. People in the community are beginning to involve
themselves in the P. E. P. program by serving as guest
speakers and hosts for planned visits to their agency,
facility, or office.

The success Of P. E. P. is Obvious when the entering
behavior of students is compared and contrasted with subse—
quent behavior. An illustration of one student's change,
the rule at P. E. P. not the exception, will provide some

insight into the program's effectiveness.

42

Mary, a fourteen year old student, had been having
behavior problems in her school. Her parents protected her
and would not accept their daughter's culpability. When the
parents were asked to enroll her in P. E. P. they refused
to do so, fearing the social stigma the program might incur
on their daughter. Mary, like the other students, had been
approached first and wanted to enroll but couldn‘t because
of her parents' strong feelings.

Two weeks later Mary appeared in school and was Ob-
viously intoxicated. This appearance culminated a period
of skipping classes, tardiness, and disappearances from
school and home. Her parents became alarmed and were eager
to try anything which would help their intolerable situation.
They asked that Mary be admitted to P. E. P.

Mary's attendance record in P. E. P. was excellent—-

90 per cent. Her performance in curricular activities and
her degree of cooperation, effort, and responsibility were
rated as excellent by her teachers. She was one of two stu-
dents who was allowed to return to her school for afternoon
sessions after her P. E. P. morning sessions.

The change in Mary's attitude and behavior was such
that the administrators and staff at her school commended
her publicly. She wasn't sent to the office once after her
initial enrollment in P. E. P.; her teachers in the junior
high described her as a "much happier girl.” Her parents

also indicated strong approval of the changes in their child.

43

Her mother stated that Mary gets along much better at home
and with other people than she had before.

Here is a program which is working. The students in
P. E. P. may be "below grade level" in math, reading, spell-
ing, and the like, but those characteristics of personality
and self which are so fragile and consequently cracked are
being strengthened and solidified by P. E. P. What the
student is and can be as a person is primary; the program
is intended to help him as a person first-—as a student,
second.

Bettleheim expressed this priority and orientation when
he stated:

... it liberates us to go beyond this non-question

of what our children and youth should learn to the real
question of what person should they be.23

The Institute for Creative Studies

From its beginning as a pilot project in the summer of
1967, with six students working on a government study of
tuberculosis, the Institute for Creative Studies has expanded
rapidly. Now a private, nonprofit educational corporation,
it has approximately thirty students, ages 17—22, from twenty
schools, working on research projects funded by $75,000 in
government contracts. Presently, additional monetary support

comes from the Meyer Foundation.

 

23Bruno Bettelheim, “Notes on the Future of Education,"
University of Chicago Magazine, V (1958), p. 13.

44

Theodore Wang, an Operations analyst, founded the
Institute in 1966. However, the idea for the Institute had
been germinating for ten years. At that time, Wang worked
in the Operations Research Office affiliated with Johns
Hopkins University, and observed bright high school students
working for the summer on a study of the Civil Defense early
warning system. He noticed that these students evolved a
number of innovative concepts that had not been considered
by the adults working in related fields. He saw that young
people can do this, and that they have a role to play in
today's society.

The Institute is a three-month summer program which
provides experience in applying modern research techniques
and scientific methods to the resolution of policy problems.
Unlike many research situations in which students either
observe or assist professionals, these students are responsi-
ble for executing their own research projects, for studying
and devising solutions to some of society's problems that
need answering. With administrative backing from the Insti-
tute, they do all the things expected of professional
researchers. They develop their own methodology, draw up
and maintain time charts, collect and refine data, hire
consultants, and conduct interviews. From their study and
findings, the Fellows formulate recommendations and prepare
final reports for their sponsoring agencies.

While the idea of the Institute is not original, Dr.

Wang explained that his manner of executing it is:

45

We let the students run their own research
projects. The only controls provided are regular
quality control review sessions, a formal interim
report, and a thorough review of each project by a
panel of experts at the end of the summer. 4
Although the program is intended to Offer an alterna—
tive to regular school instruction for bright students,
straight A's alone will not get a student admitted to the
Institute. Attempts are made to find students Who are not
just bright by standard grades, but Who are imaginative and
innovative by variable standards devised by Wang and his
associates.

Each candidate submits samples of original work, letters
of recommendation from three of his teachers, and takes a
test of creative potential. Additionally, each candidate is
interviewed personally by Dr. Wang. He stated:

I ask them a lot of questions to which I don't
know the answers. If a student says he never had that
in school, I personally dismiss him in my mind. We're
trying to face problems we never saw before. So, we're
looking for individuals who have a certain amount of
confidence in their ability, people Who will try
things.25
After the Fellows are admitted to the program, they

attend a one-day orientation session covering policies and
guidelines for conducting an operations-research study. Then
the students are divided into seven task forces, each contain—

ing three to six students, and each responsible for a research

project.

 

v

Z‘Melanie Melewicz, ”Don't Call Us Geniuses," American
Education, V (November, 1969), p. 22.

25Ibid.

46

The word responsible is not used lightly here. Indeed,
they are responsible for the project from initial conception
to final presentation. One student reported that as soon as
orientation was over, he was put to work writing and deliver-
ing proposals. He knew he was given the opportunity to sink
or swim on his own and thought it was "great."

The idea that responsibility and self-direction are
characteristics which are acquired through actual practice
is recognized by those who agree with the Institute's empha-
sis on learning by doing. As Combs stated:

Responsibility and self—direction are learned.

'They must be acquired from experience, from being given

Opportunities to be self-directing and responsible.

YOu cannot learn to be self-directing if no one permits

you to try. Human capacities are strengthened by use

but atrophy with disuse. If young pe0p1e are going to
learn self-direction, then it must be through being
given many opportunities to exercise such self-direction
throughout the years they are in school.26

In the course of gathering data for their projects, the
Fellows read, study, brainstorm, and travel. Students in one
task force found themselves in the air and on the sea for
much of the summer. With a grant from the Department of
Commerce, they studied the recruitment and turnover rate in
the Commissioned Officer Corps of the Environmental Science

Services Administration (ESSA), which is an extension and

enlargement of the former Coast and Geodetic Survey.

 

26Arthur W. Combs, "The Person in the Process," in
Humanizing Education: The Person in the Process, ed. by
Robert Leeper (Washington, D. C.: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development, 1967), p. 81.

47

The team visited seaports on the east and west coasts,
where they interviewed as many of the Corps officers as
possible. The team developed a multiple-choice question-
naire and made recommendations to lower the Corps' turnover
rate and to define more clearly the role and tasks of the
individual officer and the Corps as a whole.

Another team, under a grant from the Department of
Commerce, attempted to assess the impact the ESSA's informa—
tion service has upon school children. Extensive interviews
with school-age youngsters across the nation revealed that
While ESSA public information is geared to a general audience,
over two-thirds of its users are young students.

In addition to making recommendations on how to reach
the school-age population effectively, the group also sug-
gested new services Which ESSA could implement without exces-
sive costs.

With funds from the Washington Urban Coalition, another
team transformed a rented apartment in the heart of a Wash-
ington ghetto into a testing office. Their objectives were
to identify potential creativity in black junior high school
males and to prove that traditional instruments don't do the
job adequately.

They translated a popular personality inventory from
standard English into the black ghetto idiom. What they dis-
covered after administering both test versions to the black
youngsters and their white suburban counterparts was cultural

bias in the language of the exam.

48

In commenting on the usefulness of the Institute's

project approach to learning, Wang noted:

These students are learning things they couldn't
learn in school. They're learning the difference
between the tefitbook problems, which have nice clean
answers at the back of the book, and real-life problems,
which don't all have nice clean solutions. It's a real
awakening for them to have to go after data, to cut
through red tape, to learn from all these failures
they have to experience before they can succeed.2
Dr. Wang is enthusiastic about the program and the

accomplishments of the Fellows. He feels this type of student
research will set a nationwide trend and should become part

of the standard curriculum, where students receive college
credit as well as a nominal payment for their work. Fellows
at the institute receive a stipend of approximately $900 for

the eleven-week term. Said Wang:

This is the modern thing for young people to do.
If they are capable of being shot at when they're
eighteen, they're capable of voting when they're
eighteen, and they're capable of participating in
policy guidance when they're eighteen. And perhaps
programs of this type, which give students an oppor-
tunity to tackle some of society's problems, may even
help cut back campus unrest.2

In the first part of this chapter the writer described
instructional programs in which many of the disciplines are
taught. One of the content areas, social studies (which is
comprised of many disciplines), is a part of every curricular
program in the senior high school. In this section of the

chapter the focus will be on innovative social studies

 

27Mlelewicz, Op. cit., p. 25.
28Ibid.

49

projects, which, as stated earlier, are referred to as the
new social studies.

In spite of widespread endorsement of the new social
studies, there are reasons for close scrutiny and caution
in adopting the new programs. Voices of caution are heard
even from the-ranks of the projects themselves. Edmund
Traverso, who is Materials Supervisor for the Committee on
the Study of History, recently wrote:

New social studies and history materials are di-

verse in subject and content but have one thing in
common. They all invite students to inquire into a

body of evidence in much the same way as a scholar work—

ing in the discipline does. Yet with increasing

frequency the feedback I get from teachers who are using

these materials in their classes is that a noticeable
portion of students are turning the invitation down
cold or are at best reluctant guests at the banquet
tables of inquiry and discovery.29

The same author noted later in the article:

The increased use of media in new social studies
and history materials is not in and of itself a solu-
tion. Students quickly perceive that it is there for
the game reasons as printed documents, and they turn
off.

Another source of caution about the new social studies

comes from educational research. In a chapter examining the

methodology of research on discovery, Wittrock observed:

Many strong claims for learning by discovery are
made in educational psychology. But almost none of

 

29Edmund Traverso, "Education in the Age of Aquarius,"
Bulletin of the Amherst Project, III (Fall, 1969). p. l.

3°Ibid., p. 2.

50

these claims have been empirically substantiated or
even clearly tested in an experiment.31

These expressions of caution temper the widespread,
uncritical acclaim for the new projects. With a more
balanced perspective, then, a description of four national

social studies projects will now be given.

The Carnegie—Mellon University Social Studies
Curriculum for Able High School Students

This project, headed by Edwin Fenton of Carnegie-Mellon
University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was funded by the
Cooperative Research Branch of the United States Office of
Education. It was conducted by the Carnegie Social Studies
DeveloPment Center, in close cooperation with Pittsburgh
Public Schools. In 1963 the Center began development of a
sequential, cumulative curriculum for able students in grades
nine through twelve. The staff of the Center wrote most of
the materials, and taught, revised, and evaluated the courses.
Pittsburgh high school teachers helped write materials during
the summer and tried the courses during the school year.
The courses were tried with experimental classes Of students
having IQ's of at least 115.

The curriculum developed by the Center is one which is

not based on narrative texts; it uses varied media as

 

31M. C. Wittrock, "The Learning by Discovery Hypothesis,‘
in Learning by Discovery: A Critical Appraipgl, ed. by
Lee Shulman and Evan Keislar (Chicago: Rand McNally and
Company, 1968), p. 33.

51

integral parts Of the courses. It attempts to link learning
experiences from year to year and to include the latest
ideas from the disciplines. The project accepts Bruner's
hypotheses that students learn best through discovery and
that students can better probe social problems and handle
new information if they learn the structure of the dis-
ciplines. Defining structure as an integration of concepts
and the process of inquiry by which the concepts are developed,
the Center staff decided that:
Concepts would not be taught as ends in themselves,
but as terms which could suggest a number of analytical
questions that students could put to data.32
The program defines four major types of objectives:
attitudes, values, inquiry skills, and knowledge. Some of
the attitudes which are promoted through the way classes are
handled are willingness to listen to all sides of an argument,
willingness to make decisions based on proof, and wanting to
continue to learn. Students are expected to learn to identify
values and are to develop their own value systems.

Inquiry skill objectives are defined as being ableto
use nineteen "analytical concepts" to ask analytical ques-

tions about social studies data, and being able to use a

six-step inquiry method.

 

32Edwin Fenton, et al., "Final Report: Project Numbers
HS-04l and H-292, Contract Numbers OE 3-10—103, OE 6-10-130.
A High School Social Studies Curriculum for Able Students.
An Audio—Visual Component to a High School Social Studies
Curriculum for Able Students" (Pittsburgh: Social Studies
Curriculum Center, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1969), p. 4.
(Mimeographed.)

52

Knowledge objectives are defined in terms of learning
content that suits students' needs to pass the College Board
Exams and to live a good life, that relates to current
social problems and present and past cultures, and that
helps develop the analytical concepts.

Student texts consist almost entirely of readings,
each of which is intended for a day's discussion. The
readings contain a variety of resource materials-—historical
accounts, excerpts of essays and speeches, documents,
magazine and journal articles, memoirs, pieces of fiction,
and poetry. Each reading is preceded by a short introduc-
tion and by several study questions.

The following are some examples of study questions used.
They precede the reading, "Three Renaissance Writers," in
the tenth grade text, The Shapingyof Western Society. The
reading consists of a sonnet by Petrarch, an excerpt from
Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, and a translated
excerpt from Machiavelli's The Prince.

1. What is Petrarch's attitude toward women? How

would you describe Castiglione's ideal of the
well-rounded man?

2. Would men of the Middle Ages have agreed with
Machiavelli about the major concern of a prince?

3. Using these selections what hypothesis would you
make about the Renaissance? How would you describe
the changes in European attitudes since the Middle
Ages?

4. Are any of your values the same as those of Petrarch,
Castiglione, and Machiavelli?33

 

33John M. Good, The Shaping of Western Society, An Inqpiry
Approach (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968),
p. 91.

53

The teacher's guide for the course provides lesson
plans to accompany each reading in the student texts. The
plans are not prescriptive, but rather are intended as sug-
gestions. They list objectives, suggest additional discus-
sion questions and activities, and provide notes on proce—
dures and possible student responses. The following are a
knowledge Objective and an inquiry skill objective from the
lesson plans for the "Three Renaissance Writers":

To know the values and concerns of three Renais-
sance writers--namely their delight in worldly
pleasures, their desire to develop all human potentials,
and their focus on secular matters.

Given the passages from three Renaissance writers
and the hypotheses about Renaissance attitudes and
values developed in the two previous lessons, to be
able to select passages from reading sixteen that
either support or invalidate these hypotheses.34
These two discussion questions are suggested in the same

lesson plan:

What hypotheses have you formed about Renaissance
attitudes and values from the previous two readings?

Do you think the evidence in this reading supports
your hypothesis?35

In addition to readings, some lessons use film strips,
picture cards, recordings, and transparencies from audio-
visual kits provided for each course. The audiovisual

materials are intended to be integral parts of the course

 

34John M. Good, Teachers Guide for the Shaping of West-

ern SocietyI An Inquiry Approach (New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, Inc., 1968), p. 54.

351bid.

54

rather than supplementary illustrations in the texts; most
Of the audiovisual materials are used in conjunction with
readings.

Teacher-directed discussion of the readings and audio—
visual materials comprise the basic teaching strategy in
the program. The strategy is defined as: "... techniques
in which the teacher leads students through data toward
generalizations by the kinds of questions he asks."36 It
amounts to teacher use of the study questions for the read—
ings, the suggested questions in the lesson plans, and/or
his own questions as cues to lead students toward knowledge,
inquiry skill, and value objectives.

This lack of variety in instructional strategies is
one of the weaknesses of the program. Each lesson in each
course at the four grade levels uses the directed discussion
technique. This modified "discovery-through-discussion"
approach becomes just as boring with repetition as too much

exposition.

Harvard Social Studies Project——
Public Issues Series

 

The focus Of this project, as intended by its directors,
is on problems of society, not on problems of the social

science disciplines.

 

36Fenton et al., Op. cit., p. 37.

55

Fifteen pamphlets, with a four-page flyer of teaching
instructions for each, constitute the instructional materi-
als. Each booklet contains a selection of readings on one
or more public issues or problems which have persistent
historical interest as well as contemporary significance.

The booklets, from forty-seven to sixty-three pages in
length, have a few pictures and most contain multiple read-
ings. The variety of readings in a single pamphlet37 is
illustrated in the brief description of the selections from
Negro Views of America:

1. A famous Negro tells what it means to be a slave.

2. In the 1930's an ex-slave recalls his days of
slavery.

3. A Negro youth faces oppressiOn in the South during
the 1920's.

4. A Negro family faces the problem of buying a house
in a white community.

5. A young Negro tells United States Senators how he
made the leap from the ghetto of Watts to Harvard.

6. Three theories that attempt to explain racial
differences.

7. Radical views of contemporary Negro leaders.38

The teachers' guide, Cases and Controversy, which

establishes the rationale for instruction, lists the main

37Craig Pearson and David Sparks, Negpo Views of America
(Middletown, Connecticut: American Education Publications,
1967), p. 63.

38John Marchak et al., Cases and Controversy: Guide to
Teaching (Middletown, Connecticut: American Education Pub-
lications, 1967), p. 14.

56

questions for the unit:

Are Negroes basically different from whites?
Should Negroes in urban ghettoes be expected to pull
themselves up by their bootstraps? Do Negroes tend to
feel inferior? Who should take responsibility for
solving problems in race relations? Is racial integra-
tion or "black power” the more effective response to
the Negro's problems?39

After each student reading there are several "warm-up"
questions under the heading of "Facts in the Case,“ in
which the students are to show that they have assimilated
the basic information. Under the title "Persisting Ques—
tions of History” or "Persisting Questions of Modern Life"
another kind of question, which calls for a variety of kinds
of thinking, is included. One feature of these questions
is that they are sufficiently elaborative so that average
and below-average students have a better chance to partici-
pate. The following is a good example:

Joe Johnson is 35 years old. He's lived in the
city all his life. At 16, he dropped out of school—-
just thought it was too boring. He worked at several
different unskilled jobs--janitor, busboy, elevator
Operator, truck loader-—but never seemed interested
enough to stick with one job more than a year. He
married Sally at the age of 20 and now has six children.
They live in a four-room flat. Joe has never been in
trouble with the law; he's happy-go-lucky, kind, and
considerate, but just doesn't make enough money to pro-
vide for his family comfortably. The children never
have enough warm clothes during the winter; their diet
is inadequate, and they're always a little hungry.
There's no money left over for entertainment and recrea-
tion. The house is so crowded that there's not much
opportunity for privacy or quiet study. Joe floats
from job to job, but never seems to get anywhere.

 

39David Oliver and Fred Newmann, Guide to Teaching/
Negro Views of America (Middletown, Connecticut: American
Education Publications, 1967), p. l.

 

57

Is it right that his children be deprived Of
adequate food, clothing, and health care because of
Joe's low ambition? What if anything, do you think
society or the government should do about this
problem? Here are some possibilities: punish peOple
like Joe (imprisonment or some other method); leave
them alone; give them what they need in the way of
food, clothes, shelter, and health care; increase
their ambition by requiring them to take courses that
improve their drive to achieve. Discuss your pre-
ferredpolicy.4o

Obviously, a question like this is more likely to
stimulate a thoughtful discussion than one which is more
direct and without as many details.

A student booklet to introduce the series is called

Taking a Stand. It presents an analysis of the elements of

 

discussion and argumentation. For example, it defines
three types of discussions as (l) persuasion/winning,

(2) unloading feeling, and (3) problem solving and clarifi-
cation of Opposing points of view.

Students practice classifying discussions under these
headings. "Sensitivity," "stating the issue," "pursuing
issues with continuity," "clear transitions," and ”relevance"
are elements of discussion. Students are urged to judge
their discussions on two levels: one in terms of the quality
of the discussion, and the other in terms of the issue at

hand. The discussion issues are "moral or value issues,"

 

40Pearson and Sparks, op. cit., p. 55.

4'1Craig Pearson and David Sparks, Taking a Stand
(Middletown, Connecticut: American Education Publications,
1967) ' pp. 4-50

58

"issues of definition," "issues of fact and explanation,"
”legal issues," or "frame of reference issues." Many
examples are given of discussions which students are to
classify under one or more headings.

The last part of each student booklet is called
"Review, Reflection, Research," in which various activities
to carry the issue further are suggested. The authOrs urge
the teachers to refrain from overusing the case history

approach by dwelling on it too consistently.

High School Geography Project,
University of Colorado

This project, sponsored by the Association of American
Geographers, and financed originally by the Ford Foundation
in 1961 and later by the National Science Foundation,
developed a secondary school course comprised of six units
of study: "Geography of Cities," "Manufacturing and Agri-
culture," ”Cultural Geography," "Political Geography,"
"Habitat and Resources," and "Japan." Although this course
is labeled geography, it includes history, political science,
anthropology, and economics.

A teachers' guide, expendable student's manual, and a
book Of readings for students make up each unit. Additional-
ly, slides, transparencies, and several kinds of maps and
games are included in each unit.

A noteworthy part of the course is the use of behavioral

objectives and matched evaluation. The following is a sample

59

Objective and matching evaluation from an activity in one Of
the units:

At the conclusion of this activity, the student
should be better able to:

1. Discuss the importance of least cost and maximum
profit considerations as influences on manufacturing
location decisions.

For example when given a reading on the location
of the steel industry in the United States and asked
to defend the choice Gary, Indiana over Tucson,

Arizona as the site for a new steel-making plant, the

student does so. In his answer, the student mentions

that a factory located in Gary will probably produce
steel more cheaply than one in Tucson because of its
relative nearness to large quantities Of coal, iron

ore, limestone, and water. If the factory in Gary could

also market steel at a cost equal to or lower than the

one in Tucson, then it would show a greater margin of
profit.42

Recognizing the impracticality of attempting a descrip-
tion of all six units which make up this course, the writer
will describe one unit in some detail.

The Manufacturing and Agriculture unit begins with
descriptions of four kinds of manufacturing in the United
States, but with no indication of the locations. The students
are then presented six unlabeled maps, each showing the loca-
tion and relative size of an industry. Students. working
in pairs, must pick out which of the four industries described
is depicted by each map and be ready to defend their choices.

After this the students study a variety of data about

a metal fabricating company and then, in teams of role players,

 

42High School Geography Project, Manufacturing and
Agriculture, Teacher's Guide (Boulder, Colorado: High School
Geography Project, 1968), p. 22.

6O

decide on a good location for the factory. In the same
problem of industry, location is transferred to the
U. S. S. R. to show political and economic contrasts.

The section On agriculture is introduced with a reading
on the population explosion and hunger. Students are divided
into groups of six and one member of each group is assigned
to study one of these commodities: rice, corn, cotton, hogs,
cattle, and Wheat. Maps, charts, and other information are
in a student resource book, along with questions they are to
answer. A sample question on wheat is:

What climatic features tend to make wheat a better
producer of calories than rice in northern China as
against southern China?43

Each group's responsibility is to prepare a written report
or an oral presentation on each commodity.

Pages of interviews with farmers make up the raw data
for a problem in which students discover the conditions that
determine the decisions of farmers in the world as to what
they will grow. This information is a necessary prelude to

the final exercise in the form of a game, "Farming,' which is
very pOpular with students. Working alone or in teams,
students assume the role of farmer in Kansas at three periods
in history. They make decisions on how to run the farm and

then learn what would happen if their decisions were fol-

lowed.

 

431bid., p. 53.

61

This project, though demanding on teachers' time and
skill in class management, provides something for all
students in heterogeneous classes. It focuses on important
concepts, presents Opportunities for many kinds of think-
ing, and has a wealth of good lessons worked out in detail.
It contains a variety of fresh classroom procedures and

instructional materials.

Sociological Resources for the Social Studies

4. Suppose that many members of your school hang
out at a drive-in restaurant at night and on week-ends.
On one particular Saturday, a group of students from
another school show up at the drive—in. They begin to
insult the girls from your school and call the boys
"chicken.“ Which student would be most likely to defend
the honor of your school by confronting the boys from
the other school?

(1)
(2)
(3)

 

 

 

5. Suppose that your school decides to raise money
to buy and distribute baskets to needy families before
Thanksgiving. This task would be quite involved. The
coordination of fund raising, the selection and pur-
chasing of food, the preparation of a timetable, and
arrangements for delivery, would have to be carefully
worked out. Which student can best coordinate these
activities?

(1)
(2)
(3) 44

 

 

 

44James Fendrich et al., Instructor's Guide, Leadership
in American Society: A Cape Study of Black Leadership.
Episodes in Social Inquiry Series (Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
Inc., 1969), Handout 1. =

62

These two questions are included in a questionnaire to
which students respond in their first experience with an
SRSS "episode," Leadership in American Society: A Case Study
in Black Leadership. Questionnaire responses are tabulated
and discussed to demonstrate that different kinds of leaders
are looked to in different situations and to develop inter-
est in the nature of leadership. Study of basic concepts of
leadership and how leadership is studied by sociologists
follows the discussion.

A modified content—analysis method, in which a diagram
is used to organize data on situational factors, action
plans, group objectives, and leadership behavior, is then
introduced. Students use the diagrams to compare black
leadership in two series of readings about historical and
modern black leaders. Working in small groups, students
analyze different readings and compare their data with those
of other study groups. The study centers on hypotheses about
the relationship of long— and short-term situational factors,
group goals, and group tactics to leadership behavior.

The episode is one of forty being developed by SRSS.
They are defined as sets "of instructional materials designed
to provide a brief but dramatic and enlightening firsthand

"45

encounter with social data. The episodes are based on

the assumption that students learn better if they actively

 

451bid., p. 1.

63

participate in gathering and analyzing data to reach conclu—
sions. They seek to involve students in using sociological
concepts and methods.

All the episodes are short units requiring no more than
two weeks of class time: they are intended for inclusion in
high school government, history, and problems of democracy
courses. The units differ in sociological content and
methods, and the initiation, development, and conclusion
procedures of the study.

One episode being developed by SRSS is the Incidence :
and Effects of Poverty in the United States, which presents
statistics, case studies, and readings on poverty. Formation
and influence of stereotypes are analyzed in Images of Pe0p1e.
Testingyfor Truth: A Study of Hypothesis Formation employs
the concepts of probability and sampling in testing socio-
logical hypotheses. Other episodes deal with religion as a
social institution, the social organization of science and
the relationship of science to society, the causes of delin—
quency and the rehabilitation of delinquents, and so on.

Student pamphlets containing readings, diagrams, statis-
tical tables, and pictures are printed for each episode.
Teachers' guides, also printed for each episode, provide
teachers with background information on sociological content
and methods, detailed teaching suggestions, and bibliographies.

The organization developing the episodes is sponsored by

the American Sociological Association and funded by the

64

National Science Foundation. Sociologists and social studies
teachers write the episodes and revise them after field test-
ing in schools representative of various types of schools in
different regions of the United States. The material is
evaluated by the teams of sociologists and teachers through
the use of questionnaires, tests, observation, and personal
interviews.

The episodes are an interesting way to involve students
in sociological study. Sociology is presented as a method
for seeking answers to questions about social phenomena:
the episodes make it quite clear, however, that many of the

questions cannot be answered clearly and finally.

Summary

It was the intent of the first part of this chapter to
illustrate some alternatives to traditional secondary edu—
cation with a description of four programs Which have gained
national attention.

Although each program is different from the others, all
of them share one basic characteristic: a personalized and
humanized orientation to instruction and learning. This
characteristic and other unique features of the programs
which were described and discussed in this chapter's first

section are summarized in the list which follows:

1.

65

Each program has a philosophical undergirding that
is pervasive and essential to it. It is the empha—
sis-goal of the student's becoming self-reliant,
self-defining, and self-directed-—a responsible
individual and worthwhile member of a dynamic

social group.

Interaction and participation on the part of the
students are predominant. The learner is taken into
partnership and his own human qualities are respected
and encouraged. Students are given opportunities for

more self-direction and responsibility.

The goals of the programs call for a quite different
model for the teacher. Being concerned with change
in personal meaning and behavior, the role calls for
people who are helpers, facilitators, aides,
assisters, and ministers to a process of becoming.
When concerned with change in personal meanings
or growth of the student's self, it is the student
who knows and the teacher who does not and that is

the exact reverse of the model we have been used to.

An intensive and extensive process of pre-service

and in-service training of teachers is practiced.

The responsibility of helping youngsters to grow up
and live in the world is practiced by using the

world of the present as the learning laboratory.

66

Students have been liberated from the walls of a
school building and from a restrictive structure
and regimentation of instruction and are out in
the community—-using it, learning about it, living

in it, and improving it.

6. The curriculum is used as a means of instruction,
not an end in itself. It is a tool which is imple-
mented to cultivate the individual learner.

The curriculum content is not unilaterally
imposed on the learner by the school. Administrators,
teachers, and students cooperatively plan the curricu-
lar offerings of the program. That subject matter
Which is agreed on as having the greatest potential
as a medium for human growth is included in the

program.

7. In general, the reactions of students, teachers,
administrators, parents, and educators to the programs
are very positive. The descriptive literature re-
veals a preponderance of positivism and a minimum of
negativism in relation to the efficacy of the pro—

grams.

In part two of this chapter four national social studies
projects were described. Although the projects are diverse
in materials, style, theory, goals, and procedures, a number
of general trends and shared characteristics can be seen in

the projects.

67

A great variety of materials have been developed.
Booklets and pamphlets for each unit of study have
replaced the single, hardcovered textbook. When
used, single texts are primarily collections of
readings and resources, rather than narrative

material.

Considerable attention is given to teacher prepara-
tion and guidance. The project materials include
background readings for teachers and detailed

lesson plans.

Each project claims to use discovery or inquiry
teaching strategies. Some projects formalize in-
quiry into patterns like problem solving, the
scientific method, inductive thinking, or deductive

thinking.

There is a concern for training students in inquiry
skills. Skills like classifying data, formulating
and testing hypotheses, judging sources, deductive

reasoning, and formulating models are stressed.

A concern for values is present in the projects.
Attempts are made to teach students to identify and
analyze values in context. Increasing the students'

awareness of their own values is also stressed.

Social realism and conflict are included in the

curriculum. The projects announce the intention of

8.

68

describing life more realistically and relating
education to the daily experiences of students.
Previously closed areas such as violence, profanity,
social class and status, sex, and personal—social

conflicts are treated more openly.

The patterns of thinking required of students are
creative, subjective, and divergent. Students are
asked to make their own value judgments, hypotheses,
plans, or analyses. Although most activities still

lead to closure, increasing numbers do not.

Extensive studies of selected topics rather than
general surveys are favored to teach about periods

of history, geographic areas, or subjects in various
disciplines. Interpretation of primary sources is
favored over secondary description for doing in-depth

studies.

CHAPTER III

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

In order to evaluate the efficacy of the Mott Institute-
Okemos Secondary School Project, it was determined that
measurements would be made in the attitudinal, action, and
impact domains.

The School Inventory instrument was selected to provide
a measure of the extent to which the students' attitudes
about school were positive or negative. To measure student
reactions to the course, student activities in the course,
and student accomplishment of course objectives, an instru-
ment specifically for these purposes was developed, the
Secondary School Projectygpestionnaire. This instrument is
described in greater detail later in this chapter. An in-
formal, open-ended interview technique was used to assess
the impact of the course on teachers, administrators.
parents, and community people by soliciting their reactions
to the course. Additional data were provided by anecdotal
records of the class activities Which were kept by the stu-
dents, teacher, and writer, and by evaluations of the

course which were written by the students and teacher.

69

70

An analysis of the data obtained from the administra—
tion of these instruments and an assessment of the "reaction-
to-the-course" data was expected to provide information

needed to test the proposed hypotheses.

Thepgetting

Okemos, Midhigan, is a residential community with very
little industrial base and only the beginning of a signifi-
cant commercial development.

The educational level of adult residents of the school
community is well above the state average, and according to
1960 data,* ranges by census tracts from 11.8 to 13.3 years
of formal school experience. One area of Okemos has the
highest educational level in the township. The income levels
follow in direct relation, and based upon 1965 data, median
ranges are from $7,500 to $12,300 per family.

Median household size in the school district through
primary census areas is from 3.15 to 3.77. The township
median is 3.67, well above the tri-county median of 3.45
persons per family.

Growth in the community of the Okemos schools has been
rapid. Nearly 81 per cent of the new units built in Meridian

Township between 1965 and 1968 were in the district.

 

*

These statistics are not indicative of the 1970 popula-
tion. The statistics used to describe the sample in the
study (see page 74), are current and more indicative.

 

 

71

Future growth at the present rate or even an accelerated
rate appears certain for the school district. The desirable
residential areas with proximity to the capital and Michigan
State University, as well as growing small business, research,
and other vocational and professional opportunities, will
continue to make Okemos an area of growth.

The people of the community are supportive of the
schools. The most objective evidence of this is found in the
current tax rate representing 26.7 mills of extra voted
resources for Operation. This is, of course, in addition to
allocated funds and debt retirement. Citizen participation
in school projects, committees, and programs is a further
indication that the people are concerned about good educa-
tion and are willing to support it with time and money.

The schools enroll approximately 3200 students in a K-12
program housed in four elementary schools, one middle school,
and one high school. The district covers twenty-six square
miles and is contiguous to Michigan State University and
East Lansing on the west, Haslett on the north, Williamston
on the east, and Mason on the south.

The district is providing generally good services to
students. A tax rate of over 43.7 mills for operation and
debt retirement represents public support and makes possible
a fine school program.

Okemos has one of the lowest pupil-teacher ratios in

mid-Michigan (under 20 to l), as well as elementary

72

counselors, elementary instructional materials centers,
elementary consultants in physical education, music, a
narrative student progress report system, and a K—12
curriculum coordinator working with teachers in implement-
ing or developing coordinated programs in all areas.

The middle school offerings are particularly note-
worthy--a new facility including labs, flexible rooms, large
instructional materials center, pool, cafeteria, divisible
auditorium, large gymnasium, shops, and special education
rooms.

The curriculum is varied and ranges from the traditional
to the experimental. Team teaching is used in some subjects,
and closed circuit television and courses in speech and
dramatics and media are representative of what is available.

The high school of more than 1,000 students is housed
in a campus-style complex of buildings including adequate
classroom space, a fine arts center, instructional materials
center, pool, ten tennis courts, school farm, and outdoor
education area. The school is well staffed and the teachers
are highly interested in the development of new programs.

One-third of the teachers of the district have master's
degrees or beyond, and many are presently pursuing advanced
degrees.

The master contract is considered "professional" by the
teachers, administration, and the board of education, and

provides for such things as a two-week, pre-school,

73

in-service session: evening meetings between parents and
teachers: teacher involvement in curriculum development;

and the selection of teachers. There is also a professional
conduct committee of teachers to deal with any activity or
attitude on the part of teachers or administrators which

is not in keeping with "professionalism."

Characteristics of the Sample

When the Environmental Field Studies class appeared in
the Okemos High School list of courses in the spring of
1970 as an elective course for juniors and seniors, being
offered in the 1970-71 academic year, more than 200 students
made initial enrollment in the class. The teacher and the
principal had not anticipated such a response. The class,
to be a pilot project for one year, would be limited to
twenty-four students. After much discussion and many disapr
pointments, the teacher of the class and the principal
selected the twenty—four students who would constitute the
class. Selection criteria employed were:
1. Since more seniors and males sought enrollment than
did juniors and females, the students selected for
the class reflected these proportions--60 per cent
seniors, 40 percent juniors; two-thirds male, one-
third female.
2. The student's grade point average.

3. The academic major of the student.

4. Extent of participation in problem-centered,
student—oriented, independent study type classes.

74

5. Subjective judgments about the student's level of
maturity, perserverance, needs, and response to
the nature and direction of the class.

The class, composed of ten juniors and fourteen seniors,
has an average age of sixteen and one—half years. The six-
teen males and eight females come from families which average
five members per family. The average number of communities
in which the families represented in the class have lived is
3.7.

The fathers of the students have an educational experi-
ence range from a minimum of one year in college to a maxi-
mum of a doctorate degree. The students' mothers range in
educational experience from a high school diploma as a
minimum, to master's degrees as the maximum educational level
attained. The average income of these families is $24,344
annually per family.

The grade point average of the class ranges from a low
of 2.0 to a high of 4.0 on a four-point scale. The average

grade point average of the class as of September, 1970, was

3015.

The School Inventory Instrument

The School Inventory seeks to describe quantitatively
the attitude of students toward their high school. Accord-

ing to Bell,1 students who make low scores tend to be well

 

1Hugh M. Bell, Manual for the School Inventory (Stanford,
California: Stanford University Press, 1963), p. l.

75

adapted to the school environment: they like their teachers,
enjoy their fellow students, and feel that school is inter-
esting, useful, and conducted systematically and fairly.
Students who make high scores tend to be poorly adapted to
the school environment.

The interpretation of individual scores is made more
meaningful by reference to a distribution of scores for a
group. The present scores were secured from high schools
varying in size from 120 to 1,200 students. Inasmuch as
there was not a statistically significant difference between
the average scores for boys and girls, separate norms for
the two sexes are not necessary. The average score for boys
was 21.50, with a standard error of .90; for girls the
average was 21.40, with a standard error of .93.2

In Table 3.1, tentative norms are given for high school
students. The scores were obtained from California high
schools located at Chico, Yreka, Oroville, and Durham. The
group was composed of an approximately equal number of
freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The average for
the 391 students is 21.45. The standard deviation is 12.90
and the standard error of the mean is .65. The area of the
curve of distribution included in plus one and minus one
P. E. is designated as "Average." The area included between

plus one and plus two P. E. is designated "Good." The area

 

2Ibid., p. 2.

76

between minus one and minus two P. E. is designated
"Unsatisfactory." The area above plus two P. E. is
"Excellent," and below minus two P. E. is "Very unsatis-

factory."

 

 

 

TABLE 3.1
NORMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON THE SCHOOL INVENTORY
(N = 391)*
Description Score Range
Excellento................................... 0-3
GOOdOOOOOOOOOO000.000.00.00.ooooooooooooooo 4_12

Average.................................... 13-30
unsatiSfactorYooo0.000.000.0900oooooooooooo 31-39

very unsatiSfactorYOOO...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOCA-hove 39

 

*
Hugh M. Bell, Manual for the School Inventory
(Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1963).

Bell reports the reliability coefficient for the School

Inventory as .94, with a probable error of .004.

The Secondary School Project
Questionnaire Instrument

The desire for a "quick and convenient measure of atti-

tudes that could be used with groups"3 has led to the

 

3Allen E. Edwards, Techniques of Attitude Scale Construc-
tion (New York: Appleton-Century—Crofts, Inc., 1957), p. 9.

77

develOpment of attitude scales. This study will use almost
exclusively the Likert-type scales, wherein numerous state—
ments are given, to which the respondent reacts along a
continuum from positive to negative. Writing in 1932,
Likert indicated the advantages of this method to be as
follows:
First, the method does away with the use of
raters or judges and the errors arising therefrom:
second, it is less laborious to construct an attitude
scale by this method: and third, the method yields
the same reliability with fewer items.4
He found that scores based upon the relatively simple
assignment of integral weights correlated .99 with the more
complicated normal deviate systems of weights commonly used
at that time.5

The unique contribution of attitude surveys was summed
up well by Davis when he stated:

Whereas the typical opinion survey only counts
and classifies answers, the attitude survey assigns
scores to the answers and mathematically analyzes
them.6
A review of the literature revealed no instrument de—

signed to assess student attitudes concerning the efficacy

of the Mott Institute-Okemos Secondary School Project.

Therefore, a questionnaire for students was constructed.

 

4Rensis Likert, "A Technique for the Measurement of
Attitudes," Archives of Psychology, CXL (June, 1932), p. 42.

5Edwards, op. cit., p. 151.

6Keith Davis, Human RelatiOns At Work (New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1962), p. 83.

78

Borg's following recommendations were used as a guide to
the general approach taken:
In many cases the research worker wishes to
measure an attitude for which no scale is available.
The author, for example, recently found it necessary
to develOp a scale to measure teachers' attitudes
toward ability grouping. Satisfactory attitude
scales can be developed by the research worker if he
follows closely the procedures outlined in textbooks
on psychological testing. The Likert technique is
usually the easiest method for developing scales
needed in research projects.7
The first step in the writing of the Secondary School
Project Questionnaire was the development of a list of
factors considered important by educational leaders and
students relative to new courses and innovative classes.
Factors related to the objectives of the course were also
listed. In addition, factors revealed from an extensive
review of appropriate literature were added to this list.
At this point duplications were eliminated. A list was then
compiled, using the following fourteen suggestions offered

by Edwards:

1. Avoid statements that refer to the past rather than
to the present.

2. Avoid statements that are factual or capable of
being interpreted as factual.

3. Avoid statements that may be interpreted in more
than one way.

4. Avoid statements that are irrelevant to the psycho-
logical object under consideration.

 

7Walter Borg, Educational Research: An Introduction
(New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1963), p. 110.

10.

ll.

12.

l3.

14.

79

Avoid statements that are likely to be endorsed
by almost everyone or by almost no one.

Select statements that are believed to cover the
entire range of the affective scale of interest.

Keep the language of the statements simple, clear,
and direct.

Statements should be short, rarely exceeding
twenty words.

Each statement should contain only one complete
thought.

Statements containing universals such as "all,
always, none" and "never" often introduce ambiguity
and should be avoided.

Words such as "only, just, merely" and others of
a similar nature should be used with care and
moderation in writing statements.

Whenever possible, statements should be in the
form of simple sentences rather than in the form
of compound or complex sentences.

Avoid the use of words that may not be understood
by those who are to be given the completed scale.

Avoid the use of double negatives.8

A five-part pretest questionnaire and a seven—part

and B),

post-test questionnaire were developed (see Appendixes A

and pretested with a class having characteristics

very similar to the class in the study.

The respondents' comments concerning the field test

administration of the instruments were evaluated. Each item
response was checked to see if the item was misinterpreted

by some of the subjects.

 

8Edwards, op. cit., pp. 13-14.

80

With the assistance and co-operation of the Research
Services Bureau of the College of Education, Michigan State
university, some changes in wording and format were exe-
cuted. The instrument which was used in the study was
approved by the research department of the College of Educa-
tion. The questions and statements comprising the pretest
questionnaire are in five parts:

Part One. This section of the questionnaire is de-
signed to establish the student's reasons for enrolling in
the course and his expectations of the course.

Part Two. This section assesses the student's per-
ception of knowing what he wants in life, his ability to
use resources and handle evidence and data, his tendency to
carry plans into action, and his assessment of his citizen-
ship privileges and responsibilities. (See page 12,
Definition of Terms.)

Part Three. This section measures the areas and degree

 

of the respondent‘s participation in activities outside of
the school.

Part Four. This section assesses the student's ability

 

in problem analysis.

Part Five. This section measures the degree of the
student's satisfaction with his personal development in a
variety of areas related to the objectives of the course

and the Project.

81

The questions and statements comprising the post-test
questionnaire are in seven parts:

Part One. This section is designed to measure the
student's evaluation of the course in reference to his
original statement of his expectations of the course.

Part Two. This section assesses the student's evalua-
tion of the impact of the course on him, according to the
criteria listed in part two of the pretest. It is identi-
cal to part two of the pretest, with the exception noted
in Table 3.2. The question follows each set of statements

in the five sections of part two.

TABLE 3.2

STUDENT EVALUATION OF COURSE IMPACT

 

 

 

In terms of knowing what you want in life, this course
(check one)

1. Contributed a great deal to my development.
It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

3. Was of some help to me, but in general was
rather poor.

4. Contributed very little to my development in
this respect.

 

Parts three, four, and five are identical to parts

three, four, and five of the pretest instrument.

82

Part Six. This section measures the student's reaction
to the course and his evaluation of its worth to him.

Part_§even. This section yields the student's assess-
ment of unique characteristics of the course and his sug—

gestions for improving the course.

Mechanics of SurveyyAdministration

As it was essential that frank and honest expressions
of attitude be obtained from the students, the preservation
of anonymity became quite important. Therefore, each stu-
dent's Questionnaire was not numbered or coded in any way.

Working cooperatively with the teacher of the class,
four dates and times were arranged for the administration of
the instruments. The gphool Inventory and the Secondary
School Projectygpgptionnaire were administered during the
first week of the class session. The same two instruments
(with exceptions noted on pp. 80-82) were administered
during the last week of the first term of the class session.

An Open-end interview schedule was used with parents,
teachers, students, and community people on an informal
basis and on a flexible schedule. When activities related
to the class were conducted throughout the term, these
people were contacted and engaged in conversation. Questions
intended to motivate a response to the program's efficacy

were posed.

83

Table 3.3 is illustrative of the questions which were

asked in the informal interview sessions.

TABLE 3.3

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

 

—
y

1. What is the nature of your relationship to this
class?

2. What has been the frequency of contact between you
and the class or class member?

3. Who has initiated these contacts?

4. What was the purpose of the meeting between you and
the student(s)?

5. How would you describe the manner in which the
student(s) conducted himself/themselves?

6. How would you describe him/them according to:

a. knowledge of the tOpic discussed?

b. validity of the argument?

c. soundness of the suggested plan?

d. follow-through on the plan or project?

7. What is your Opinion of this type of course for high
school students?

8. What impact on the student do you feel this course
has made?

9. What changes, if any, have you noticed in the stu-
dent's attitude about school, society, people in
the school and community, and the environment?*

10. To what extent do you feel that this course con-
tributed to these changes?

 

*This question was asked of those who had many contacts
with the students throughout the term.

84

Treatment of Data

The scores obtained on the Secondary School Project
Qppptionnaire and the School Inventopy were averaged and
the mean (i) used as a basis for the determination of the
typical level of student attitudes about school and about
the Environmental Field Studies course. Mean scores ob-
tained from the pretest and post-test administrations were
compared through use of a statistical test of significance.

Data obtained through interviews, observations, and
anecdotal records were analyzed and used as supplementary
and supportive information in the discussion of some

hypotheses.

The Mott Institute-Okemosygecondary
School Project

Before a description of the Project is undertaken, a
brief description of the Mott Institute for Community
Improvement is in order.

The Mott Institute focuses its efforts to improve edu—
cation by carrying out experimental projects in the communi-
ties of Flint, Detroit, Lansing, and Okemos, Michigan.

The Institute was established in August, 1965, when the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation of Flint awarded a ten-year

grant of funds to Michigan State University.

85

According to Campbell,9 the Institute's main purpose
is to prepare school personnel to function in schools and
communities using the community school approach to aid
educationally disadvantaged students. More specifically,
the objectives are to:

- Develop an innovative preparation program for

teachers of the educationally deprived which will

utilize community, university, and local resources.

- Develop methods and materials for teachers of
educationally deprived.

- Explore ways of using university students and lay
personnel to serve as educational enrichment tutors
for underachieving youngsters.

- Initiate university curriculum changes which point
out ways and means of using community resources to
further the learning process of young and old.1

Projects to which the Institute has given major atten-

tion to date are:

The Early Elementary Education Project

Differentiated Staffing Project

Teacher Education

Community Service Program

Career Guidance Program

The Secondary School Project is the newest of the Institute's

projects.

 

9Clyde M. Campbell, "Programs for Change in Education"
(East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, 1969),
p. l. (Pamphlet.)

1°Ibid.

86

In the spring of 1970, personnel from the Institute
and school personnel from the Okemos School District
assembled to discuss an idea presented by the Institute at
an earlier meeting. The gist of the idea was to create a
class of high school students which would do battle with
those factors, conditions, and people which are contribut-
ing to the deterioration of the environment.

The class of twenty-four juniors and seniors was
created, and is now operating on a pilot basis for the
1970-71 school year. The class meets five days per week
for a two-hour period.

Essentially, the objectives of the program are both
pedagogic and social: to capture the interest of students
by making use of their own perceptions and experiences and
to channel this interest into constructive learning patterns,
while at the same time stimulating a more sensitive aware—
ness of the environment. Additionally, it is believed that
education should be organized around the goal of teaching
young peOple how to be effective agents for change so that
they, in turn, may participate in the social processes which
shape their community and their lives.

The program uses an approach which embraces new kinds
of learning experiences. These experiences are selected
to involve students in the critical analysis of, among other
things, the social values and interactions that underlie

environmental degradation. A high priority is placed on the

87

processes of inquiry, problem solving, and evaluation, but
the focus is outward into the community and on actual
problems affecting the lives of the students.

Operating on a peer basis with the teacher of the class
and eight teaching interns from Michigan State University,
the students have set themselves a strong program of read-
ing and learning about pollution, effective presentation of
their ideas, and influencing action on pollution problems
within the county.

A program of speakers, books, films, seminars, univer—
sity lectures, and independent study constitutes the core
of the course. The activities of the class include study
of selection of valid data, evaluation and organization of
any data obtained, effective interviewing and debating,
presentation of statistics gathered, and effective influ-
ence on public opinion.

Additionally, the class studies the policies of the
mass media, community organization, legislative processes.
obtaining effective research into laws on the subject of
pollution, and general economics. Their studies on pollu-
tion itself include general concepts of ecology, functions
of the present anti—pollution groups, laws currently pro-
posed on pollution, and problems in Ingham County, in which
Okemos is located.

Groups of five students and one university intern com-
prise a problem-solving team. Each team identifies a pol—

lution problem, researches the problem, prepares an attack

88

plan, evolves a strategy for solving the problem, imple-
ments the strategy, and then evaluates the effectiveness of
the strategy.

The students select representatives from their ranks
to attend and record two lectures per week given at Michigan
State University. The class, "Man: The Endangered Species--
What Kind of Life Do We Want? What Kind of Life Can We
Have?" explores the constraints on man and his problems as
a social being and the possible solution to these problems.

Teaching the course are various members of the Michigan
State University faculty interested in the human environ-
ment. Professors from many disciplines are represented,
including agriculture; engineering; theology: humanities:
and the physical, biological, social, economic, and politi—
cal sciences, giving the students access to a cross—section
of the university's best minds on the environment.

Table 3.4 contains those behavioral objectives of the
program which are representative and illustrative of the
program's main purposes.

In the process of identifying, attacking, and solving
a problem, the students have contact andlmust cooperate
with adults in the community. The students, as dreamers,
bring enthusiasm, energy, and spirit to a problem, while~
adults, as practitioners, bring the frustrations, facts,
and obstacles which they face in attempting to solve the
problem. This condition tempers the emotion of the young—

sters, yet inspires and rejuvenates the adults. ‘Both groups

89

TABLE 3.4

REPRESENTATIVE BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

 

1.

2.

Each student will list at least five strategies for chang-
ing public opinion and awareness.

They will critically evaluate the apprOpriateness of at
least five strategies for changing public Opinion and
awareness on a given issue with no errors. His critical
evaluation will include:

a. A description of conditions before implementing the
strategy.

b. A description Of conditions after the strategy has
been applied to the issue.

c. A description of negative results produced by imple—
mentation Of the strategy.

d. A listing and description of factors extraneous to
the implemented strategy which had an effect on the
conditions which changed.

e. Recommendations for continued use of this strategy.

The group will plan and carry out at least one appeal
monthly to the public (through local or school newspapers,
radio, or television) on environmental pollution and
solutions. All students must participate in helping meet
this Objective.

Each student will critically evaluate (in report form) at
least two non—written presentations (i.e., movie, T.V.,
lecture, interview, commercials) each term. One must be
a personal interview initiated by the student; the other
must be from some form of the other presentation.
The criteria Of evaluation will include:

a. Comprehensive summary.

b. The major strength Of the presentation.

c. A statement of counter position to the position
given in the presentation.

continued

90

Table 3.4--continued

_
_>

4.

i

d. A statement of the presentation's bias.

e. An interpretation Of the interest of the presenta-
tion for the student's life.

Each student will attend at least one session of the
State Legislature, local council, or community meeting
and write a summary evaluation Of his visit. The summary
evaluation will include the following:

a. A summary.

b. A statement, if any, of the ties to ecological
problems.

c. A listing Of the major issues, with an attempt to
identify the speakers and their positions.

d. A statement Of the implications Of the discussion
for the student's life.

e. A statement of the implications of the positions
for future action.

All five of the above components must be included in the
report for the report to be accepted as satisfactory.

Each student will be able to identify at least five areas
Of our environment which are currently undergoing deteri-
oration at an unnatural rate.

Each student will be able to identify at least three
factors contributing to the deterioration Of each environ-
mental area listed in response to the above.

After taking a programmed text or classroom instruction
in ecological vocabulary, concepts, or problem—solving
techniques, the student will:

a. Match the vocabulary word or concept to the appro-
priate definition with no more than 20 per cent
error.

b. Apply the vocabulary, concepts, and problem-solving
techniques to mini-problems with no more than 20
per cent error.

continued

91

Table 3.4--continued

 

 

 

 

m u

 

c. Apply the vocabulary, concepts, and problem—solving
techniques to his extra-classroom attempt to effect
solutions of real problems in the community.

7. As a group, the students will conduct a demonstration
,project on environmental prOblems for their school or'
community. All students must participate to meet this
objective. The class will draw up a definition of what
constitutes participation.

8. After taking special instruction in interview analysis,
use of ratings or check lists, and case study analysis,
the student will apply his skill to a sample incident
making no more than 20 per cent errors.

9. Given a list of various types of resources, the student
will list at least two strengths and two biases for each
source.‘ He will do this with only one error for the
four required for each resource.

10. The student will critically evaluate at least three
articles on ecology each week.

The criteria of evaluation will include:

a. The major strength in the article.

b. A statement of counter position to the author's
position.

c. A statement of the author's bias.

d. An interpretation of the interest of the article
for the student's life.

No errors will be permitted in including the above four
components in the evaluation.

 

recognize that each is concerned and needs cooperatively to
plan and execute a solution which will benefit all. This

appears to be a big first step toward open and effective

92

communication between the adult "establishment" and the
"new youth."

It is hOped that this condition of cooperation between
youth and adults will serve as a model which will help to
negate Kelley's observation:

The conflict between age and youth is one of the
saddest aspects of our culture. And the saddest fact
of all is that age always strikes the first blow.
Hostile attitudes on the part of the elders are quickly
sensed by youth whose respgnse in many instances is
hostility and aggression.

The following entries are representative of the activi-
ties of the class which, as stated earlier, operates as a
single unit and as a collection of task-force teams.

It should be noted that the activities which occurred during
September involved the class as a single unit. The October
activities involved the Operation of the task-force teams.
When the class began, each day was a structured one: there
was a scheduled activity involving the whole class. This
schedule was what the students wanted and felt they needed.
As the term progressed they wanted fewer structured class
sessions and more semi—structured, task force team sessions.
Initially, then, from Monday through Friday, the class met
as a unit. At mid-term, late October, the class met as a

unit on Tuesday and Thursday and as task force teams on

Monday, wednesday and Friday.

 

11Earl C. Kelley, In Defense of YOuth (Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1962), p. 7.

93

Monday, September 21, 1970

During a planning session the previous week, the stu—
dents, who wanted information on data-gathering techniques,
on synthesis and categorization of raw data, and on presenta—
tion of data in concise and meaningful forms, asked for the
writer's assistance in securing the services of a research
scholar. Dr. William Farquhar, Professor of Education,
Michigan State University, consented to work with the group
and make a presentation on the desired topic. Follow—up
exercises on data gathering, data synthesis, and reporting
were conducted by the students and the teacher for that

week and part of the next.

Tuesday, September 22, 1970

A planning session was conducted, concerning who would
attend two upcoming environmental conferences in the state,
and what their responsibilities would be.

The class discussed policies relating to speakers-—
whether they should be shared with other classes and/or
with the entire school, how to make maximum use of their
materials and time, and related topics.

Two students presented background information on the

two speakers who were to meet with the class that week.

Wednesday, September 23, 1970
Mr. Richard Sode, Ingham County Drain Commissioner, was

the speaker. He was invited by the class to discuss the

94

manner in which a state appropriation for water quality
projects was being spent.

Class members still work with Mr. Sode on projects to
inform communities in Ingham County on drainage problems

and water pollution.

Thursday, September 24, 1970

Mr. Len Stuttman, a candidate for a Senate seat in the
Michigan Legislature, was the speaker. Mr. Stuttman, who
was running as an ecology-minded candidate, expressed his
views, concerns, and program plans through use of two origi—
nal movies and a lecture. The students, Who had prepared
questions in advance, participated in the seminar discussion

which followed.

Friday, September 25, 1970

The first part of the class session was used to discuss
the Sode and Stuttman presentations. Extinction: The Game
of Ecology, a board game for two to four players, was used
to illustrate certain principles of ecology which had been
presented by the speakers. The game deals with some of the
key processes by which species survive and evolve or become
extinct.

The game is played on the imaginary island of Darwinia,
which is divided into six different habitats. Players'
species compete for occupancy of these habitats. The popu-

lation of a species is represented by a series of colored

95

population cubes. The number of cubes a player has on the
board depends on how abundant his population is at that
moment.

The game illustrates the complex and sometimes devas-
tating chain reactions which may be started by changes in

the environment, particularly those caused by man.

Monday! October 19, 1970

Twelve students spent the day attending a national
conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Environmental Forum
was sponsored by the Michigan Natural Resources Committee.

Students who remained at school spent the afternoon
developing an order of books for classroom use. Some stu-
dents catalogued and filed materials which had been col-
lected, e.g., magazflne reprints, newsletters, pamphlets,
project proposals, and reports. Other students worked on
developing personal behavioral objectives, which had been

the topic of two class sessions the previous week.

Tugpday, October 20, 1970

The Suburban Planning Team met with Meridian Township
officials. The team and the officials are creating plans
for programs which will insure an ecologically sound area in
which to live.

Members of the Recycling Team attended Michigan State
University for an interview—discussion with Dr. Howard
Tanner, Director of the Water Quality Management Plan at

Michigan State University.

96

Members of the Legislative Team went to the Capitol
to collect copies of environmental bills and names and
addresses of legislators and commission heads. A letter-
writing campaign urging support or non—support of bills,
policies, and measures with which the students were con—
cerned was to follow.

One student attended the "Man: The Endangered Species"

class at Michigan State University to record the session

for use of the class and the task force teams.

Wednepday, October 21, 1970

A presentation was given by the twelve students who
attended the Environmental Forum in Ann Arbor. They dis-
tributed materials they had collected at the conference:
these materials were analyzed, summarized, and evaluated
by the class.

A member of the Recycling Team summarized the group's
meeting with Dr. Tanner; also, she presented a filmstrip-

lecture On water treatment facilities.

Thursday, October 22, 1970

Class discussion of the task force teams' problems and
frustrations was held.

The Suburban Planning Team went to the Meridian Mall
Shopping Center to distribute copies of a leaflet which had
been collected at the Environmental Forum. The leaflet
contained environmental action ideas and suggestions about

organizing a community awareness action program.

97

The Education Team met with the Okemos Superintendent
of Schools. They presented their plan to work with the
principal and teachers of one of Okemos' elementary schools
on a program of environmental education for elementary
school youngsters. The superintendent gave his support to
the project and urged the cooperation of all involved.

The Recycling Team attended a follow-up meeting with

Dr. Tanner.

Friday, October 23, 1970

The movie, Our Poisoned World: Pepticides, was shown;
discussion followed the film. The discussion led to a
presentation given by the teacher, dealing with the equi-
librium of an ecosystem and illustrating the impact of DDT

introduction into the ecosystem.

Summary

The purpose of this chapter has been to explain the
procedures and instrumentation used to fulfill the Objec-
tives of this study and to describe the Mott Institute—
Okemos Secondary School Project.

A description of the instrument, TheySchool Inventory,
which was selected to measure student attitudes about school,
was given, as was information concerning this instrument's
validity and reliability. The basic rationale of the atti—

tude survey technique, the need for the construction of a new

98

instrument, and the manner in which it was developed and
field tested were explained in some detail. A description
of the resultant Secondary School Project Questionnaire,
pretest and post-test forms, was given.

The community of Okemos, Michigan, the setting for the
study, was described. The community as a school district
and related statistical data were described in some detail.
Characteristics of the students who make up the class used
in this study were listed and discussed.

An explanation of the mechanics of test administration
used in this study was given, stressing the need to maintain
anonymity among the students in order to attain the highest
possible level of frank and honest expressions of attitude'
from the group. A brief explanation of how the data would
be treated was also given.

The final section of this chapter was devoted to a
description of the Mott Institute for Community Improvement
and its purposes. The major part of this section, however,
contained a detailed description of the Secondary School
Project, including a listing of its major objectives and
examples of class and task force team activities.

The following chapter will be devoted to the analysis

of the data gathered in this study.

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

It has been the purpose of this study to evaluate the
efficacy of the Mott Institute—Okemos Environmental Quality
Program in the attitudinal, action, and impact domains.
Nine hypotheses were presented in Chapter I, around which
this study has been developed. Each of these hypotheses
has been analyzed separately, and the data obtained and

appropriate explanation will be presented in this chapter.

Null Hypothesis 1

There will not be a positive change in the students'
attitudes about school during the first term of their
enrollment in this course.

The analysis of this hypothesis necessitated the assess-
ment of each student's attitudes about school during the
first week of his enrollment in the class and during the
last week of the first term of his enrollment in the class.r
To accomplish this, the students were administered the

School Inventory at both of these times. Each student's

 

pretest and post-test score was computed, as was a mean score

for the group.

99

100

As was indicated in the description of the School
Inventory in Chapter III, scores on the Inventory indicated
a more positive attitude toward school. Table 4.1 shows
lower minimum and maximum scores and a lower mean score on

the post-test than on the pretest.

TABLE 4.1

MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM VALUES, MEANS, AND STANDARD
DEVIATIONS OF STUDENTS' SCORES ON
ATTITUDES ABOUT SCHOOL

 

 

Minimum Maximum Standard

Value Value Mean Deviation
Pretest 18.00 58 00 36.26 11.11
Post-test 14.00 56.00 35.26 13.07

 

To determine the significance of the difference be-
tween mean scores on the pretest and post—test, a test of
significance was executed and the "T" statistic was computed.
The "T" of the mean which exists between the variables was
determined to be .4676, which is significant at the .328
level.

As shown in Table 4.2 on the following page, a "T"
statistic of only .4676 was revealed, which has little sig—
nificance. Null Hypothesis 1 could not, therefore, be

rejected.

101

TABLE 4.2

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MEAN SCORES ON THE SCHOOL INVENTORY

 

Sum of Squared

 

Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error "T" Level
2337 2314 2.13 .4676 .328*

 

*Not significant.

One should guard against drawing the conclusion, however,
that a condition of no difference between the students at
the beginning and end of the term exists. As stated by
Farquhar, "You do not prove equality by failing to reject the
null hypothesis. All you know is that there is not a statis-

tical difference."l

Null Hypothesis 2

The students' understanding of what they want in life
will not be enhanced during the first term of their enroll-
ment in this course.
Data for analysis of this hypothesis were obtained from
the Secondary §chool Project Qpestionnaire. As in Hypothesis
1, the scores students received on the pretest and post-test
were used to compute a group mean score for both administrations.

Table.4.3 allows a comparison of pretest and post—test values.

 

1Farquhar, Op. cit., p. 14.

102

TABLE 4.3

MINIMUM.AND MAXIMUM‘VALUES, MEANS, AND STANDARD
DEVIATIONS OF KNOWING'WHAT STUDENTS WANT
IN LIFE SCORES

 

 

 

Minimum Maximum Standard

Value Value Mean Deviation
Pretest 2.00 3.75 2.86 .41
Post-test 2.25 4.00 2.99 .38
Difference +.25 +.25 +.13 —.03

 

Although differences between the items in the above
table seem slight, the gains are substantial when analyzed
on a four-point scale, which is the scale value of this

section of the Qpestionnaire.

 

A statistical test of significance between pretest and
post-test means was performed to ascertain the extent to
which the means differed and at what level the difference
was significant. Computation of the "T" statistic revealed
a significant difference between the means, at the .03 alpha
level. Table 4.4, on the following page, illustrates this.

Additional data were gathered through that section of

the Questionnaire in which the students indicated of what

 

value the course was to them in enhancing their understand-
ing of what they want in life. Sixty-one per cent of the
students indicated that the course enhanced their understand-

ing of what they want in life.

103

TABLE 4.4

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
KNOWING WHAT STUDENTS WANT
IN LIFE MEAN SCORES

W

Sum of Squared

 

Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error "T" Level
2.41 2.08 .06 1.88 .03

 

Therefore, Null Hypothesis 2 was rejected and the follow—
ing hypothesis accepted:

The students' understanding of what they want in life
will be significantly enhanced during the first term of their

enrollment in this course.

Null Hypothesis 3

During the first term of their enrollment in this course,
the students' ability to use resources will not be enhanced.
Data for analysis of this hypothesis were obtained from
the Questionnaire.» Methods identical to those used in
Hypothesis 2 were employed. An analysis of difference between
.pretest and post-test means was completed after student
scores were determined and used in the computation of those

means .

104

TABLE 4.5

MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM VALUES, MEANS, AND STANDARD
DEVIATIONS OF USING RESOURCES SCORES

 

 

Minimum Maximum Standard

Value Value Mean Deviation
Pretest 2.00 3.40 2.74 .33
Post-test 1.80 4.00 2.99 .44
Difference -.20 +.60 +.25 +.ll

 

These computations revealed a significant difference
between the means, at the .01 alpha level. Table 4.6 summae

rizes these results.

TABLE 4.6

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN USING RESOURCES SCORES

 

Sum of Squared

 

Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error "T" Level
6.48 ' 5.11 .10 2.42 .01

 

The null hypothesis, that the students' ability to use
resources would not be enhanced in this course, was rejected.
It became apparent, therefore, that a significant dif-

ference between these two variables does, in fact, exist.

105

For this reason, the following hypothesis was upheld and
shown to be significant:

During the first term of their enrollment in this
course, the students' ability to use resources will be en—
hanced.

Additionally, data gathered with that section of the
ngptionnaire in which the students show their assessment of
the value the course has for them, revealed that 65 per cent
of the students indicated the course enhanced their ability
to use resources.

It is interesting to note a relationship between this
variable, using resources score, and the problem solving
score variable. A correlation of .499 exists between these
variables. Using a table of significance levels for
standard correlations, this correlation, .499, is signifi-
cant at the .05 alpha level.

Such an observation would indicate that experiences
and training in identification and use of resources and

problem solving are reciprocally beneficial.

Null Hypothesis 4

The students' ability in handling evidence and data will
not be increased during their enrollment in the first term
of this course.

Data for this hypothesis were gathered by using the
Secondary Sphool,Projectyguestionnaire to ascertain a pretest

mean score and a post-test mean score.

106

The pretest mean score (2.86) was then compared to the
post-test mean score (2.83), revealing a difference of
—.03 points.

As shown in Table 4.7, a "T" statistic of only .4509
was revealed. As no "T” ratio less than 1.0 can have sig—
nificance, no further analysis was undertaken. Null

Hypothesis 4 could not, therefore, be rejected.

TABLE 4.7

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
HANDLING EVIDENCE AND DATA MEAN SCORES

 

 

 

 

 

Sum of Squared

 

Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error "T" Level
1.33 1.32 .05 .4509 .328*

 

*
Not significant.

However, even though further statistical analysis was
precluded by the less than one "T" ratio, it is interesting
to note that the students in the class felt differently than
the preceding data revealed. In response to the section of
the post-test described in Table 3.2, wherein they indicated
the extent to which the class had value to them in terms of
handling evidence and data, 22 per cent of the students
felt the course contributed a great deal to their develop—
ment. Additionally, they indicated the course was very

strong in that respect. Sixty-two per cent of the students

107

indicated they felt the course did a good job in enhancing
handling of evidence and data. Four per cent felt the
course was of some help, and the remaining 12 per cent of
the students in the class felt the course contributed very
little to their development in this skill.

Therefore, even though the difference between mean
scores on this variable was not significant statistically,
84 per cent of the students felt the class enhanced their
development in this skill, whereas only 16 per cent indi—
cated it had little or no effect on their ability to handle

evidence and data.

Null Hypothesis 5

During their enrollment in the first term of this
course, the students' ability to carry their plans into
action will not be increased.

As in Hypothesis 4, the Questionnaire was used to gather
data to test this hypothesis. The method used was identical
to that which Was used in testing Hypotheses 2, 3 and 4.

Mean scores were computed and subjected to an analysis of
significance.

The average minimum and maximum values for this vari-
able on the pretest and post—test were identical-—minimum
value, 2.16: maximum value, 3.5. Additionally, the difference
between group mean scores for this variable was .004. The

computation of the "T" statistic revealed no significant

difference between these mean scores. Table 4.8 summa-

rizes the relevant data.

TABLE 4.8

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
CARRYING PLANS INTO ACTION MEAN SCORES

 

 

Sum of Squared

 

Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error "T" Level
3.38960 3.38916 .08 .0531 .479

 

As the "T" statistic reported in the preceding table was
not sufficiently large to reject the null hypothesis, Null
Hypothesis 5 could not be rejected.

Additional related data were gathered through that sec-
tion of the post-test in which the students indicated of What
value the course was to them in increasing their ability to
carry plans into action. Fifty-six per cent of the students
indicated the course increased their ability to carry their
plans into action. Forty-four per cent indicated the course
contributed little or nothing to their development in this

respect.

Nu117Hypothesis 6

The students' awareness of their privileges and respon-

sibilities as citizens and their participation in citizen

109

activities will not be increased during the first term of
their enrollment in this course.

Data for analysis of this hypothesis were obtained
from the Secondary §chool Project Questionnaire. An analysis
of significance between pretest and post-test means was
completed after student scores were determined and used in

the computation of those means.

TABLE 4.9

MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM VALUES, MEANS, AND STANDARD
DEVIATIONS OF CITIZENSHIP SCORES

 

 

 

= :
Minimum Maximum Standard
Value Value Mean Deviation
Pretest 2.25 4.00 2.77 .47
Post-test 1.88 4.00 2.91 .57
Difference -.37 - +.l4 +.07

 

These computations revealed a significant difference
between the pretest and post—test means, at the .06 alpha
level. Table 4.10, on the following page, summarizes these
results.

The students' assessment of the value the course had
for them in terms of increasing their citizenship awareness
and participation indicated a positive attitude. Seventy—
three per cent of the students felt the course increased

their citizenship awareness and participation, whereas only

110

TABLE 4.10

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN CITIZENSHIP SCORES

 

 

1
Sum of Squared
Sum of Deviations from Standard Significance
Squares the Mean Error " "T" Level
4.19 3.77 .08 1.55 .06

 

27 per cent indicated the course was of little help to them
in this respect.

The null hypothesis, that the students' awareness of
their privileges and responsibilities as citizens and their
participation in citizen activities will not be increased
during the first term of this course, was rejected.

It became apparent, therefore, that a significant dif-
ference between these two variables does, in fact, exist.
For this reason, the following hypothesis was upheld and
shown to be signigicant:

The students' awareness of their privileges and responsi-
bilities as citizens and their participation in citizen
activities will be significantly increased during the first

term of their enrollment in this course.

Null Hypothepis 7

During the first term of this course there will not be

a positive reaction to the course from the students, their

111

parents, and community people.

An analysis of this hypothesis necessitated two methods
for collecting the data. The Secondary School Project
Qpestionnaire was used with the students, and interviews
with the students' parents and community people were con—
ducted.

Students were asked to indicate the extent to which
they were satisfied or dissatisfied with their development
in skills and characteristics related to this course.
Examples of these abilities follow:

Self—reliance

Knowing how to attack.a problem

Ability to get along with adults

Knowing where to get the facts of an issue

Ability to distinguish fact from opinion

Knowing how to get involved in community activities

Student responses, given on a four—point scale, were
computed and used in ascertaining a group mean score for the
pretest and post-test. An analysis of significance between
pretest means was completed. The computation of the "T"
statistic revealed that a significant difference exists be-
tween the means, at the .03 alpha level.

On another section of the Questionnaire, students' reac-
tions to the course were measured.

1. One hundred per cent of the students indicated their
experience in the course had been a good one.

2. Seventy—nine per cent of the students indicated the

course offered them a good range and variety of interesting

activities.

112

3. Seventy—nine per cent of the students indicated
the course offered useful knowledge and developed useful
skills.

4. Ninety-five per cent of them indicated the course
helped them to understand peOple better.

5. Sixty-six per cent of the students indicated this
course was the best they were taking this year.

6. Fifty—two per cent of the group indicated this was
the best course they had had in high school.

7. Seventy-eight per cent of them felt this course
tended to make students more practical and realistic.

8. Fifty-six per cent of the class indicated that
because of this course they were more involved in the activi—
ties of groups and agencies in the community.

9. Fifty-two per cent of the class felt that people
in positions of authority don't listen to young people.

10. Ninety-six per cent Of the students in this class
planned to continue the fight against environmental decay
when the course ends in June.

Additionally, students were asked to respond to the
question: "In what ways has this course changed you?"

The following statements are representative of the majority
of student responses:

1. ”It's shown me how lazy I can get and how I need
someone to belt me with a club, but I'm changing. I'm

finally doing things on my own."

113

2. "I have become more open with people."

3. "I think I now understand and can communicate with
people Who I consider opposite (as far as personality,
etc.) better than I could before."-

4. "It is a great experience in learning and living.

I think that after eleven years of classroom situations,
it is good to be exposed to a different (Opposite) type of
educational setup."

5. "The contact with new people has gotten me out of
my old clique. I've discovered that people I think are
different aren't necessarily bad."

6. "Many! My whole life's philosophy has been over-
hauled, and my ability to look at myself honestly has
increased. I've learned to throw away inhibitions and most
of the time I can eliminate the fagade I've carried around
with me for so long."

In addition to responses to the interview questions
(see Table 3.3), parents were asked to indicate their reac—
tion to the class by selecting one of the following labels
which they felt was most descriptive of their position:
Very Positive, Positive, Neutral, Negative, Very Negative.

Thirty per cent of the parents were very pogitive,

50 per cent were positive, and 20 per cent were negative.
None of the parents used Neutral or Very Negative as descrip—

tive of their reaction to the class.

114

It was interesting that in the majority of cases,
parental reaction to the course, both pro and con, was
centered on the amount of "structure" the class had. Ninety
per cent of the parents commented on the structure of the
class. They wondered if the pattern of a teacher directing
the activities of the class might be better than the stu-
dents' deciding for themselves. Yet, somewhat paradoxically,
they felt the "unstructured approach" fostered independence
and a sense of responsibility in their youngsters.

Reactions of those who had contact with the class as a
whole or with individual students were equally positive.

Len Stuttman, once a candidate for the Michigan Senate,
remarked: "It's essential that we get kids interested in
and acting upon the issues we keep talking about. I think
this type of class is part of the answer. I share their
desire to do something about the important issue of environ-
mental quality."

Richard Sode, Ingham County Drain Commissioner, in an
interview with the writer stated: "What is most interesting
about this class to me is that it deals with a current
problem. When I went to school you learned from books—-and
books only. These kids learn from people, books, agencies,
and personal experience. I haven't been out of high school
too long but we had nothing like this class. This is great."

Additionally, two feature articles appeared in the

Lansing State Journal, a daily newspaper: a feature article

115

and an editorial praising the concept of the class appeared
in the Ingham Countnyews, a weekly newspaper: and students
from the class appeared on an interview show on WJIM-TV in

Lansing, Michigan.

Therefore, based on all the preceding evidence, Null
Hypothesis 7, which states that there will not be a positive
reaction to the course from the students, their parents,
and community people, was rejected. The following hypothesis
was upheld and shown to be significant:

During the first term of this course there will be a
significantly positive reaction to the course from the stu-

dents, their parents, and community peOple.

Null Hypothesis 8

After the first term, students will not identify char-
acteristics of the course which they feel make it unique and
different from other courses they have taken.

Data for analysis of this hypothesis were gathered from
a section on the post-test form of the Qpestionnaire. The
students were confronted with the following task:

Please list the characteristics of this course which

in your opinion make it unique and different from

other courses you have taken or are taking.

Eighty-three per cent of the students in the class
listed at least two characteristics, and approximately one—

half of those comprising the 83 per cent listed five or more

characteristics. The remaining 17 per cent of the group

116

either listed characteristics which carried little meaning,
such as "it's different," or wrote nothing at all.

The following statements are representative of the
characteristics listed by the students in the class. The
list contains unique characteristics of the class, while it
reveals also the relative appeal of the characteristic to
the student: '

1. "I like it because we make the course. We don't
simply enroll into a specific course."

2. "Intrinsic more than extrinsic motivation."

3. "I know and like most everyone in this class. It
is unstructured. People don't tell you what to do—-you
decide yourself."

4. "Breakdown of fixed teacher—student atmosphere."

5. "Personal fulfillment."

6. ”Chance to relate as a human being with the
teacher."

7. "Working in real society rather than the pseudo-
society of school."

8. "Learning your own pitfalls."

9. "It provides unlimited resources."

10. "Kids can be themselves."

11. "It is much more versatile in structure and con-
tent."

12. "Not worrying about grades and how to get them."

Null Hypothesis 8, therefore, was rejected and the

following hypothesis was upheld:

117

After the first term, students will identify character-
istics of the course which they feel make it unique and

different from other courses they have taken.

Null Hypothesis 9

During their enrollment in the first term of this course
the nature of the students' activities outside of school will
not demonstrate an increased interest and participation in
community affairs.

Data for analysis of this hypothesis were gathered with
Part Three of the Questionnaire. Containing a list of thirty-
six activities, part three measures the extent to which each
student spends free time outside of school on each activity.

Within this list of thirty-six activities, sixteen were
designated as key items which would be scored separately.
These key items are activities that are directly descriptive
of community interest and participation as it relates to
this course. (See items 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, ll, 15, 17, 21, 24,
26, 27, 28, 29, 31, and 34.)

Individual student scores were determined and were used
in computing mean scores for the pretest and post-test.

The general activity mean scores and the key item activity
mean scores were analyzed. A statistical test of signifi-
cance betWeen means was performed to ascertain the extent to
which the means differed and at what level the difference was

significant. Computation of the "T" statistic revealed a

118

significant difference between the general outside activity
means at the .001 level. The difference between key item
activity means was highly significant at the .0002 alpha

level. Table 4.11 summarizes the pertinent data.

TABLE 4.11

ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN OUTSIDE ACTIVITY MEAN SCORES

 

 

Sum of
Squared Signifi-
Sum of Deviations Standard cance
Squares from Mean Error "T" Level
General 4.27 2.69 .07 3.5964 .001
Key Item 8.52 4.64 .09 4.2911 .0002

 

Therefore, Null Hypothesis 9 was rejected and the
following hypothesis accepted:

During their enrollment in the first term of this
course the nature of the students' activities outside of
school will demonstrate a significantly increased interest

and participation in community affairs.

Summary

In this chapter the hypotheses stated in Chapter I
were stated in their null form and analyzed. Those which
could be rejected in the null form were restated as direc-

tional, or delta, hypotheses. For purposes of summarization,

119

the nine hypotheses will now be stated in question form
and answered on the basis of the data gathered.

Question l--Will there be a positive change in the
students' attitudes about school during
the first term of their enrollment in
this course?

No significant difference between group mean scores
was found. The impact of this course on student attitudes
about school in general had no observable effect.

Question 2--Will the students' understanding of what
they want in life be enhanced during the
first term of their enrollment in this
course?

A "T“ statistic of 1.88, significant at the .03 alpha
level, indicated a definite enhancement of the students'
understanding of what they want in life had occurred during
the first term of this course.

Additionally,it was revealed that 61 per cent of the
students in the class indicated that in terms of knowing
what they want in life, this course contributed significantly
to their development.

Question 3-—Will the students' ability to use resources
be enhanced during the first term of their
enrollment in this course?

An analysis of significance between pretest and post—

test means was applied to the data of this question,

120

revealing a significant difference between these two vari-
ables. The "T" statistic generated was tested and found
to be significant at the .01 alpha level.

Also, it was revealed that 65 per cent of the students
in the class indicated that in terms of using resources
this course contributed significantly to their development.

In addition to this basic analysis, it was noted that
a relationship between the using resources variable and the
problem solving score variable exists. A correlation co-
efficient of .499, significant at the .05 level, established
a definite relationship between the variables of using
resources and of problem solving.

Question 4—-Will the students' ability in handling

evidence and data be increased during
their enrollment in the first term of
this course?

No significant difference between group.mean scores was
found. However, it was noted that the students in the class
felt differently than the statistical data indicated. In
response to the section of the ppst-test Questionnaire
Wherein they indicated the extent to which the class had
value to them in terms of handling evidence and data, 84
per cent of the students felt the class had enhanced signifi-
cantly their development in this skill.

Question 5-—Will the students' ability to carry their

plans into actiornbe increased during their

enrollment in the first term of this course?

121

No significant difference between group mean scores
was found. However, 56 per cent of the students indicated
the course increased their ability to carry their plans
into action. This indication was made on the reaction
section of the post-test Secondary School Project Question-
112.129..

Question 6-—Will the students' awareness of their
privileges and responsibilities as
citizens and their participation in
citizen activities be increased during
the first term of their enrollment in
this course?

An analysis of data related to this question revealed
that a significant difference exists between pretest and
post—test means. As was done with two of the preceding
hypotheses, the null hypothesis was rejected as a result of
a generated "T" statistic of 1.55, significant at the .06
alpha level.

Also, the students' assessment of the value the course
had for them in increasing their citizenship awareness and
participation indicated a positive attitude. Seventy-three
per cent of the students felt the course significantly in-
creased their citizenship awareness and participation. On
the basis of these data, it can be assumed that a strong
relationship exists between the course and the students'

citizenship awareness and participation.

122

Question 7—-Will there be a positive reaction to the
course from the students, their parents,
and community people during the first
term of this course?

An analysis of this hypothesis necessitated two methods
for collecting the data. The Questionnaire and interview
were employed.

Student scores on the Questionnaire were computed and
used in ascertaining a group mean score for the pretest and
post-test. ,An analysis of significance between mean scores
was completed. The computation of the "T" statistic revealed
that a significant difference exists between these two vari-
ables, at the .03 alpha level.

On another section of the Qppspionnaire students' ap—
praisals of the value of the course were'indicated. Some of
the significant results follow:

1. One hundred per cent of the students indicated their

experience in the course had been a good one.

2. Seventy-nine per cent of the students indicated the
course offered useful knowledge and developed useful
skills.

3. Ninety-five per cent of the students indicated the
course helped them to understand peOple better.

4. Sixty-six per cent of the students indicated that
this was the best course they were taking this year.

5. Fifty-two per cent of the group indicated that this

was the best course they had had in high school.

123

In addition to responses to the interview questions,
parents were asked to indicate their reaction to the class
by selecting one of the following labels as most descrip—
tive of their position: very positive, positive, neutral,
negative, and very negative.

Thirty-per cent of the parents were very positive:

50 per cent were positive, and 20 per cent were negative.
None of the parents selected neutral or very negative as
descriptive of their reaction to the class.

Statements made by people from the community were cited
and shown to be positive. Additionally, it was noted that
the class had been the subject of newspaper articles,
editorials, and television programs, all of which indicated
a positive reaction to the class and its objectives.

Question 8—-Wi11 the students identify characteristics

of the course which they feel make it ‘
unique and different from other courses
they have taken?

Eighty-three per cent of the students in the class
listed at least two characteristics; one—half of those listed
five or more characteristics. The following are some of the
characteristics which were listed by the students. The list
contains unique characteristics of the class, while it re—
veals also the relative appeal of the characteristics to the

student:

124

l. Chance to relate as a human being with teacher.

2. Working in real society rather than the pseudo-
society of school.

3. Learning your own pitfalls.

4. Kids can be themselves.

5. Breakdown of "fixed" teacher—student atmosphere.

Question 9--Will the nature of the students' activities

outside of school demonstrate an increased
interest and participation in community
affairs?

An analysis of data related to this question revealed
that a significant difference exists between general outside
activity mean scores. Computation of the "T“ statistic
revealed a significant difference between these two vari-
ables, at the .001 alpha level.

More significant is the difference between mean scores
on key item activities which are most directly related to
the objectives of the course. Computation of the "T"
statistic revealed a significant difference between these
two variables, at the .0002 alpha level.

The final chapter will be devoted to a concise summary
of the research, conclusions, implications, and suggestions

for further study.

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This final chapter will be devoted to a summary of
the study, followed by a discussion of the conclusions
generated from the analysis of the data, and concluded with

recommendations for further research.

Summary

Purposes of the Study

1. The basic purpose of this study was to determine
the relationship between the Environmental Field Studies
course and student attitudes about school, themselves, and
the course.

2. Closely allied with this purpose was the desire to
ascertain the relationship between the course and the
students' academic skills and activities.

3. The study additionally sought to determine what
reaction the parents and community people would have to
the Environmental Field Studies course.

4. To explore the relationship between a problem;

centered and action-oriented program and student involvement

125

126

in out-of-school activities was a further purpose of this
study.

5. The study's final purpose was to deduce those
characteristics of the course which make it unique and
different.

In order to explore these five related yet distinctly
different purposes, nine hypotheses were developed. They

will be discussed later in this chapter under Conclusions.

Limitations of the Study

1. As is true of any study, the validity of this study
is affected by the degree of frankness and sincerity of
response to the instruments administered.

2. The setting for this Project is one class in
Okemos ngh School. To insure an in-depth analysis, this
study is concerned with the people and setting directly
related to the Project.

3. The finding of a relationship between positive
changes in the attitudes and activities of the students,
their parents, and community people, and the Environmental
Field Studies class were considered correlational only,

not causal.

Review ofjthe Literature
A review of the literature for this study consisted of
a description and analysis of innovative high school pro—

grams and of national social studies projects. Although each

127

program and project is different from the others, all of
them share a common characteristic: a personalized and
humanized orientation to instruction and learning.

Major characteristics of these programs and projects
Which were particularly significant were as follows:

1. Student self-reliance, self-definition, and self-
direction is the emphasis-goal.

2. The programs help the student to be a responsible
individual and worthWhile member of a dynamic
social group.

3. Interaction and participation on the part of the
student are predominant.

4. The model for the teacher is different. Being
concerned with change in personal meaning and
behavior, the role calls for peOple who are helpers,
facilitators, aides, assisters, and ministers to
a process of becoming.

5. The responsibility of helping students to grow up
and live in the world is practiced by using the
world of the present as the learning laboratory.

6. The curriculum is used as a means of instruction,
not an end in itself. It is a tool which is imple-
mented to cultivate the individual learner.

7. Skills such as classifying data, formulating and
testing hypotheses, judging sources, using deductive
reasoning, and formulating models are stressed.

8. Attempts are made to teach students to identify and
analyze values in context.

9. The patterns of thinking required of students are
creative, subjective, and divergent.

10. Social realism is stressed. The intent is to
describe life more realistically and relate educa-
tion to the daily experiences of students.

128

Qggign of the Study

In order to determine and measure relationships among
the variables of this study, three instruments were used.
The School Inventory was selected to provide a measure of
the extent to which students' attitudes about school were
positive or negative. The assessment of student reactions
to the course, student activities in the course, and stu—
dent accomplishment of course objectives was accomplished
through the use of the Secondary School Project Qgestion—
ppipe, written specifically for this study. The Project
Interview Schedule, developed by the writer for this study,
was used to assess the impact of the course on the parents
of the students in the class and community people who had
contacts with the class.

Working cooperatively with the teacher of the class.
four dates and times were arranged for the administration
of the instruments. The School Inventory and the Secondary
School Project Questionnaire were administered during the
first week and last week of the first term.

The Project Interviewgchedule was used with parents
and community people for the duration of the first term.

Data from the administration of the study's three
instruments were punched on computer data cards and sub—
mitted to the Michigan State University CDC 3600 computer

for computational purposes.

129

Conclusions

Hypothesis 1: There will be a positive change in the stu-
dents' attitudes about school during the
first term of their enrollment in this
course.

An analysis of significance of difference between group
means failed to reveal any significant difference. Although
the null form of this hypothesis could not be rejected, it
was noted that one should guard against drawing the conclu-
sion that a condition of no difference exists between the
students at the beginning and at the end of the term. It was
shown that failure to reject the null hypothesis does not
prove equality. All one can know is that there is not a

statistical difference.

Hypothesis 2: The students' understanding of what they want
in life will be enhanced during the first
term of their enrollment in this course.

Using analysis of significance of difference to de—
termine if a significant difference existed in mean scores,
the generated "T" statistic of 1.88 was demonstrated to be
significant at the .03 level, or well beyond the .05 alpha
level. Additionally, 61 per cent of the students in the
class indicated that the course enhanced their understanding

of what they want in life.

130

It is fair to conclude, therefore, that the student's
'understanding of what he wants in life will be enhanced
during his enrollment in the Environment Field Studies

class.

Hypothesis 3: During the first term of their enrollment in
this course the students' ability to use
resources will be enhanced.

The analysis of significance of difference technique
was used to investigate this hypothesis, as once again the
study was concerned with the examination of signigicant
differences, if any, between group means. A "T” statistic
of 2.42 was generated, significant at the .01 alpha level.
In the acceptance of this hypothesis it can be concluded
that the students' ability to use resources will be enhanced
during their enrollment in this class. Of further interest
is the fact that 67 per cent of the students indicated the
course enhanced their ability to use resources.

Although not required for analysis within this hypothe-
sis, it was interesting to note, however, a relationship
between the using resources mean and the problem solving
variable. A correlation coefficient of .499, significant
at the .05 level, exists between these two variables. Such
a fact would indicate that experience and training in identi-
fication and use of resources and in problem solving are

reciprocally beneficial.

131

ggrpothepis 4: The students' ability in handling evidence
and data will be increased during their
enrollment in the first term of this course.

The analysis of data pertinent to this hypothesis, when
tested for differences between means, was not found to be
significant. A "T" statistic of .4509 was revealed. As no
"T" ratio less than 1.0 can have significance, the null
hypothesis could not be rejected.

Somewhat paradoxically, however, 84 per cent of the
students in the class indicated that the course enhanced
their development in this skill.

Although statistical nonsignificance exists, it appears
that those who are enrolled in the Environmental Field
Studies class feel their enrollment increases their ability
to handle evidence and data. The writer concludes, there—
fore, that the 84 per cent statistic is more descriptive of

the fact than is the "T" statistic.

Hypothesis 5: During their enrollment in the first term of
this course, the students' ability to carry
their plans into action will be increased.

The analysis of data pertinent to this hypothesis, when
tested for difference between means, was not found to be
significant. As the difference between means was less than
.01 of a point, it can be concluded, contrary to the hypothe-
sis, that the students' ability to carry their plans into
action will not be increased during their enrollment in this

class.

132

Hypothesis 6: The students' awareness of their privileges
and responsibilities as citizens and their
participation in citizen activities will be
increased during the first term of their en—
rollment in this course.

Using analysis of significance of difference once again
to determine if a significant difference exists between
pretest and post-test mean scores, a ”T" statistic of 1.55,
significant at the .06 level, was revealed.

Additionally, the students' assessment of the value
the course has for them in terms of increasing their citizen-
ship awareness and participation is significant. Seventy—
three per cent of the students indicated the course
increased their citizenship awareness and participation.

It is fair to conclude, therefore, that the students'
awareness of their privileges and responsibilities as citi—
zens and their participation in citizen activities will be
increased during their enrollment in the Environmental Field

Studies course.

Hypothesis 7: During the first term of this course, there
will be a positive reaction to the course
from the students, their parents, and com—
munity people.
The extent to which the students' reaction to the course
is positive was revealed to be quite strong. Using an

analysis of significance of the difference between mean

133

scores technique again, computation of the "T" statistic
revealed that a significant difference between mean scores
exists, at the .03 alpha level.

Additionally, the students' appraisals of the value
of the course indicated a range from a minimum of 52 per
cent to a maximum of 100 per cent of the class reacting
positively to the class, to class activities, to class ob-
jectives, and to individual skill development.

The parents' reaction to the course was equally posi-
tiVe. Thirty per cent of the parents defined their reac-
tion to the class as very positive, 50 per cent as positive,
and only 20 per cent indicated a negative reaction to the
class.

Positive reactions of community people were revealed
in the form of positive statements from those who had had
contact with the class, and in the form of feature newspaper
articles, newspaper editorials, and T.V. coverage.

The data showed, without muqh doubt, that students,
parents, and community people reacted positively to the
students themselves, the class learning model, the activities

of the class, and the objectives of the class.

Hypothesis 8: After the first term, students will identify
characteristics of the course which they
feel make it unique and different from other

courses they have taken.

134

Eighty-six per cent of the students in the class listed
at least two unique characteristics of the class: one-half
<of that group listed five or more characteristics.

The characteristics which they listed are, in fact,
those which the planners, teachers, and administrators of
the course identify as unique characteristics of the Environ—
mental Field Studies course.

The basic conclusion one must draw from the data which
is pertinent to the hypothesis is that the students are
perceptive enough to discern characteristics of different
learning models with which they are involved. Most impor—
tant, as their statements revealed, they can make value
judgments about the models based on the security, identifi-
cation, challenge, reality, and relevance accruing to them

from these different models.

Hypothesis 9: During their enrollment in the first term of
this course the nature of the students'
activities outside of school will demonstrate
an increased interest and participation in
community affairs.

The analysis of significance technique was used to
investigate this hypothesis, as once again the study was
concerned with the examination of significant differences,
if any, between group means. Concerning general outside
activity means, a "T" statistic of 2.5964 was generated,

significant at the .001 alpha level. More important, the

135

difference between.key item activities, those most directly
related to course objectives, was even more significant.

.A "T" statistic of 4.2911 was generated, significant at the
.0002 alpha level. Therefore; in the acceptance of this
hypothesis it can be concluded that the nature of the
students' activities outside of school will demonstrate an
increased interest and participation in community affairs

during their enrollment in this class.

Implications

The implications which can be drawn from this study,
although basic in nature and modest in scope, are, nonetheless,
significantly important to all students, teachers, parents,
administrators, and those involved in curriculum innovation.
If the knowledge explosion precludes the possibility of our
schools teaching all that youth needs to know; if critical
thinkers and problem solvers are prerequisite to the survival
of society; if social injustice, contamination of our en-
vironment, urban decay, and dehumanization demand action,
involvement, and commitment; then a massive effort must be
made to generate programs that teach youth how to learn and
that can bring each youngster face-tO-face with that which
is real to him.

This study has pointed out the high correlation between
a student—centered, problem-solving learning model and the

enhancement, refinement, and develOpment of essential

136

ilearning skills such as self-direction, using resources,
ihandling evidence and data, and problem-solving techniques.
'Fhis condition clearly implies that it is desirable for
programs to approximate the philosophy, objectives, and
program of the Environmental Field Studies model if a posi—
tive student response, a positive parent response, and
essential learning skills are to be enhanced.

Additionally, this study pointed out the high correla-
tion between the Environmental Field Studies course and
the nature and the frequency of the students' outside-of—
school activities. An assessment of student activities at
the end of the first term revealed a significant change in
the nature and frequency of these activities, as compared
to those at the beginning of the term. More students were
spending more of their free time in community affairs.
Clearly, this fact implies that if high school students'
interest in and contributions to the community are to be
enhanced, school programs need to increase the opportunities
for student participation in the community.

An admonition to the reader is in order. Anyone who
concludes that the adoption of the Environmental Field
Studies model is a panacea for education maladies would be
falsely assuming a cause—and—effect relationship to exist
between the Environmental Field Studies course and student
attitudes, student skills, and student behavior. As stated
previously, none of the nine hypotheses examined attempted

to establish such a concrete relationship.

137

Three hypotheses, dealing with student attitudes about
school is Hypothesis 1, handling evidence and data in
Ihfpothesis 4, and carrying plans into action in Hypothesis 5,
failed to be rejected. One should guard against drawing
the conclusion, however, that a condition of no differences
ibetween groups exists. As stated by Farquhar, "You do not
prove equality by failing to reject the null hypothesis.

.All you know is that there is not a statistical difference."1

Questions for Further Study

1. What single factor contributes most to the very
positive student reaction to the Environmental Field Studies
course?

2. If parental reaction to the course were more negative
than positive, what impact would it have on the students'
reaction to the course?

3. To what extent would the Environmental Field Studies
course model be successful in the junior high school?

4. What is the relationship between the length of the
class period, the number of periods per week, and the dura-
tion of the course and student attitudes about the course?

5. If students were graded by conventional means and
conventional standards would their attitudes about the course
and the nature of their activities in the course change

significantly?

 

1Farquhar, loc. cit.

138

6. Do student attitudes about school in general diminish
proportionately to the number of years spent in the school?

7. What is the relationship between student attitudes
about school and the extent to which they participate in
.planning their educational program?

8. Would the replication of this study within a school
district of differing size, socio—economic structure, and

geographical location produce significantly different results?

Reflections

 

Although this study affirmed several of the writer's
untested beliefs which had formerly been based upon specula—
tive thinking, one of the study's findings was of an unex—
pected nature. It had been assumed, as expressed in
Hypothesis 5, that the students' ability to carry their plans
into action would be increased during their enrollment in
this course. This seemed a logical assumption since the
course is an action-oriented one. Yet, students appeared to
spend an inordinate amount of time in the planning stage of
a project. In most instances if the execution stage was
ever reached it was a floundering and superficial execution
of a well-formed plan. However, when the teacher or the
writer sat with the group and helped to direct the execution
phase of the project, culmination of the project was attained.

We, as educators, cannot expect students who, for

eleven or twelve years, have been conditioned to passive

139

roles as learners, to adjust immediately to new and different,
active roles as learners. For years we have been helping
them to prepare for meaningful living and not allowing them
to live and learn a real, meaningful life. we have told
youngsters, not taught them; we have talked to them, not

‘with them; we have molded them, and have not drawn them out,
‘we have made them dependent and passive, not independent and
active. In light of these conditions, the outcome of

Hypothesis 5 is not unexpected.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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141

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Hays, William L. Statistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart
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Marchak, John, and others. Cases and Controversy: Guide to

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Shaw, Marvin E., and Wright, Jack M. Scales for the Measure-
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Shulman, Lee (ed.). Learning by Discovery: A Critical
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.Sparks, David, and Pearson, Craig. Negro Viewa,ofyAmerica.
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. Taking a Stand. Middletown, Connecticut:
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Thurstone, L. L., and Chave, E. J. The Measurement of
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. inflpences in Curriculum Change. Washington,
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146

.Fenton, Edwin. "Final Report: Project Numbers HS-04l and

MI.

Mr.

Mrs.

Mr.

Mrs.

Mr.

Mrs.

Mrs.

H-292, Contract Numbers OE 3-10-103, OE 6-10-130.

A High School Social Studies Curriculum for Able Stu-
dents. An Audio—Visual Component to a High School
Social Studies Curriculum for Able Students,"
Pittsburgh: Social Studies Curriculum Center, Carnegie-
Mellon University, 1969. (Mimeographed.)

 

Interviews
Edward Bukovinsky Mrs. Donald Montgomery
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
Paul Chase Mr. Robert Perry
Okemos, Michigan ‘ Okemos, Michigan
Sally Davidson Mrs. Robert Ringer
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
William Dean Mr. Arnold Schuiteman
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
Myles Delano Mr. Harold Schultz
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
and Mrs. Glenn Engle Mrs. Richard Shaull
Okemos, Michigan .Okemos, Michigan
Patricia French Mr. Richard Sode
Okemos, Michigan Lansing, Michigan
and Mrs. James Fairley Mrs. Leslie Steen
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
Donald Gordon Mr. Leonard Stuttman
Okemos, Michigan East Lansing, Michigan
and Mrs. Donald Griese Mrs. Joseph Varner
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
and Mrs. Frederick Gross Mr. Thomas Well
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
Harold Hart Mrs. Alfred Wood
Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan
Herbert Jackson Mr. Earl Zetterholm

Okemos, Michigan Okemos, Michigan

APPEND IXES

APPENDIX A

Secondary School Project Questionnaire

Pretest Form

147

Secondary School Project Questionnaire

Form PRE

Dear Student:

The purpose of this questionnaire is to determine how
you feel about this course and all the activities associ-
ated with it and related to it. There are no right or wrong
answers to the questions. We want to know how ygp feel and
whatlypp_think.

Your response will be treated anonymously. It is very
important that you complete the questionnaire individually
and gap in cooperation with anyone else.

Read the directions before each section and proceed

until you complete the entire questionnaire. Please begin.

148

149

PART ONE

1.

How did you hear about this course? (If you need more
space, use back of this sheet.)

Why did you decide to enroll in this course?

Did you make the decision to enroll in this course by
yourself? If not, with whom did you consult? How much
influence did this person or persons have on your decision
to enroll?

What do you expect this course to be like?

In what ways do you expect this course to change you?

150

PART TWO

‘Read each statement carefully. Then indicate, as accurately
as you can, on the scale which appears to the right of each
statement, the response you judge to be most descriptive of

your position.

If you aggmxfluLijLgLee_with the statement,
@DASA

Circ1e SD 0 O O O O O I O O O

Circ1e D. O O O O O O O O C Q C C O O O O O C

If you disagree with the statement,
SD (:> A SA

If you agree with the statement,
CirCle A. O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 SD

If you strongly agree with the statement,
Circ1e SA . O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 SD
1. Knowing what you want in life:
a. I have a clear idea of the direction I

want my life to take. . . . . . . . . . SD

b. I am aware of most of my important

beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD

c. I recognize problems in relation both
to my own personal living and to the

larger society. . . . . . . . . . . . . SD

d. I attack problems as a whole, and in
relation to other problems, rather
than one at a time or in a hit or miss

fashion 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 SD

D A SA
D A SA
D A SA
D A SA

151

2. Using Resources:

a. I know a number of people to whom I can

go for effective help on solving a

problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I approach and use these people and yet
do not take advantage of them or lean

too heavily upon them. . . . . . . . . . SD

I am effective in bringing knowledge and

past experience to bear upon new problems SD

I am familiar with a variety of useful
local resources such as libraries,
museums, social agencies, government

bureaus, forums, etc . . . . . . . . . . SD

I use local resources for materials,

evidence, and further experiences. . . . SD

3. Handling evidence and data:

a.

In attacking a problem, I take the time
and effort to inventory possible causes.
outcomes, and methods of solving the

PrOblem. O O O O O O O O C O O O O C O 0 SD

I consider the consequences of my solu-

tion to a problem. . . . . . . . . . . . SD

I have an experimental attitude in

attacking problems . . . . . . . . . . . SD

SD D A SA

D A SA
D A SA
D A SA
D A SA
D A SA
D A SA
D A SA

d- I seek all possible evidence related to a

152

problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I collect facts in a systematic fashion.

I tend to be objective in dealing with

facts related to a problem . . . . . . .

I am careful to distinguish between fact

and opinion I O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O

In a discussion I am insistent upon fair-

ness on the part of all members parti-

pating, including myself . . . . . . . .

Carrying plans into action:

a. I act upon conclusions arrived at through

the use of the thinking process. . . . .
I face the effects of my conclusions . .

I tend to leave my conclusions on an in—
tellectual level rather than apply them

to my daily life activities. . . . . . .

I use action as the test of my plans and

conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I revise my plans in light of additional

eVidence O . O O O O O O O O O O O O O C

I can be depended upon to see a problem

through to its solution. . . . . . . . .

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

153

5. Citizenship:

a.

In considering how I act in political
and civic matters in my community and

state, I am an active citizen. . . . . . .

I make my feelings and position known to
my friends, family, teachers, principal,

and community leaders. . . . . . . . . . .

I initiate contacts with people who are

principals in an issue of concern to me. .

I am interested in and sensitive to what

happens in my community and state. . . . .

I try to do something about what happens

in my community and state. . . . . . . . .

I involve myself in the work of community
agencies or citizens' groups whose func-
tion is to solve problems.which I feel

need solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I express my concerns to community and
state leaders about problems and make sug-
gestions for improving conditions which

are related to these problems. . . . . . .

If I feel my position on an issue is cor—
rect I attempt to convince others to

support me and my position . . . . . . . .

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

154

PART THREE--Activities of personal choice

Using the list of activities which follows, please indicate
on the scale which appears to the right of each activity,
the degree to which you spend your time outside of school

in each activity.

If you never spend time on the activity,

CirCle N O O O O O O O O O C O C O O O O O S F

W).

If you sometimes spend time on the activity,
circle S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you fregpently spend time on the activity,

circle F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you very frequentiy spend time on the
activity, circle VF. . . . . . . . . . . .

If you always spend time on the activity,
Circ1e A: .1~..-“. .4 O O O .2 0- O O O O O O O
. Reading current fiction . . . . . . . . .

Reading poetry. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reading magazines . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reading the newspaper . . . . . . . . . .

Writing letters to the editor . . . . . .

Writing verse or prose. . . . . . . . . .

\l 0‘ U1 oh (.0 N l‘"
a

. "Solving the world's problems" in
friendly discussion . . . . . . . . . . .

(D
0

Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9. Watching news and public interest pro-
grams on T.V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10. Hiking or camping . . . . . . . . . . . .

ll. Attending a Board of Education meeting
in your school district . . . . . . . . .

IE 52 Z Z Z Z

869

(DUJUJCDUJCO

U)

W'll'd'fl'flul

VF

VF
VF
VF
VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

> o V w >' 3'

o

12.
13.
14.

15.

16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

21.

22.

23.
24.

25.
26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

155

Hunting and fishing . . . . . . . . . .
Gardening . . . . . . . . . . ... . . .

Watching entertainment or sports pro-
grams: on T.V. O O O O O O O 0 O O O O 0

Attending state legislative hearings
or sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Working at your favorite hobby. . . . .
Attending a political rally . . . . . .
Attending the legitimate theater. . . .
Playing bridge or other card games. . .

Playing baseball, football, basketball,
SOCCEI‘. o o o I O O o o o O o o o O O 0

Working with community agencies and/or
groups C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Visiting museums, art galleries, and
special exhibitions . . . . . . . . . .

Going to the movies . . . . . . . . . .

Attending a Board of Education meeting
in a school district other than yours .

Attending sports events . . . . . . . .

Doing volunteer work—-hospital, social
agency, school. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Self improvement through reading,
special courses, correspondence courses

Attending a lecture, forum, discussion
group session . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Working voluntarily for a candidate for
Public Office 0 O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Cooking and/or sewing, needlework . . .

Attending court sessions and public
hearings o O O O O O O o O O O o O o o O

ZZ ZZZ

mmcnmm

'11'11'11’13'11

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

o 3’ W 3’ >

156

32. Hanging around a community center or
youth canteen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF

33. Bowling, billiards, ping pong. . . . . . N S F VF

34. Attending town meetings or community
council meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A

35. Skating, skiing, tobogganing . . . . . . N S F VF A

36. GOlfj-ng' tennis. O C O O O . O C O O O O N s F VF A

 

157

PART FOUR

After reading the paragraph which follows, check in the
columns at the right, the statement you consider the best,
most reasonable answer to the question and the statement
you consider the poorest or weakest answer. Do this for
each of the four questions.

The death of the world is imminent because the human
population of the planet is about five times too
large, and we're managing to support all these
people—~at today's level of misery--only by spending
our capital, burning our fossil fuels, dispersing
our mineral resources and turning our fresh water
into salt water. We have not only overpopulated but
overstretched our environment. We are poisoning the
ecological systems of the earth--systems upon which
we are ultimately dependent for all of our food, for
all of our oxygen and for all of our waste disposal.
These very complex ecosystems are made up of many
different kinds of organisms: we're killing off
those organisms and simplifying the systems. The
stability of ecosystems is dependent on their com-
plexity: if they become simple, they become unstable.

Dr. Paul Ehrlich

Best Poorest
I. Who should attack and attempt to solve Answer Answer
this problem?

a. All the people in the world. .
b. All the people in the nation .
c. Local communities. . . . . . .
d. Persons directly concerned . .

II. Why are we slow in making progress?

a. People are indifferent; they don't
care much; they have other things on
their minds and are willing to "let
the other guy do it.". . . . . . . .

b. We do not know what we want. Since
there are many different groups,
peoples, and cultures in this country,
we must come to a common agreement of
what we hope to accomplish before we
will make progress . . . . . . . . .

c. People are just talking about the.
problem and have very little knowl-
edge about it; no action is being
taken to solve the problem . . . . .

 

 

 

158

Best Poorest

Answer Answer

d. We do not get at fundamental (' ’
causes. We have thought of it as
a single problem, while really it
is part of our whole social system.

e. Many people are not willing to work
hard the way they did years ago.
If people were ready to work hard,
there would be progress on this
problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III. What should we do about this problem?

a. Improve our educational system by
devoting more time to the study of
such problems and by increasing our
emphasis on facts, skills, and
abilities related to the problem. .

b. Reform our government by improving
the operation of it. We should “
work for greater honesty and compe—
tence in our government. The im-
competents should be recalled to
private life. . . . . . . . . . . .

c. Work for increased governmental
control over conditions which con-
tribute to this problem . . . . . .

d. Make some significant changes in
our society. This means a change
in the ruling class. It may mean
something like our American Revolu-
tion of 1776. . . . . . . . . . . .

e. Each individual in our country must
care about the problem, and then
seek the best way he or she can be
most effective in initiating changes
of the conditions which contribute
to or cause the problem . . . . . .

f. In the long run, time will be the
most effective positive help in
working out a solution. Time will
provide for a slow but gradual
change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

 

g.

159

(People should keep out of problems

that are not their business. This
problem would not exist if every-
one did this. . . . . . . . . . .

IV} What is the hope or progress in 801V?
ing this problem?

a.

b.

We can expect progress in the next
five or ten years . . . . . . . .

We can expect progress in the next
fifty years . . . . . . . . . . .

There is practically no hope of
progress. 0 O O O O O O O O O O O

The outlook is very grave. Things
will get worse before they get
better 0 O O O O O O O O O C O O O

 

Best
Answer

 

Poorest

r Answer

 

160

, PART JFIVE

Read each statement carefully.

are:

strongly satisfied with your personal development in each

Then indicate whether you

gtrongiy dissatisfied, dissatisfied, patipfied, or

area.

If you are strongly dissatisfied, circle SD.
If you are dissatisfied, circle D. . . . . .
If you are satisfied, circle S . . . . . . .
If you are strongly satisfied, circle SS . .

l.
2.
3.

10.
11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Ability to handle tension. . . . . . . . .
Ability to control emotions. . . . . . . .

Ability to compete without resenting
competitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Self—reliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ability to stick to a task . . . . . . . .
Knowing my own abilities . . . . . . . . .
Knowing how to attack a problem. . . . . .

Ability to understand my parents' point of

View 0 O O O . O O O O O O O O O C O O O 0

Ability to make ethical or moral distinc-
tions. 0 C O O O O O C O O O O 0 O O O O 0

Ability to get along with adults . . . . .

Knowing how to get involved in community
activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Developing a philosophy of life. . . . . .

Knowing where to go to get the facts of an
issue. I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Knowing how to influence people. . . . . .

Knowing how to resolve a conflict in
opinion. 0 O C O O O O O O C O O O O O O 0

Developing a clear sense of myself (Who I

am). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SD
SD
SD
SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD'

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

D
D
D
D

U C) t3 U C!

S
S
S
S

mmmmm

SS

SS

SS

SS

SS

SS
SS

SS

SS

SS

SS

17.

18.

19.

20.

Ability to distinguish fact from

opinion. . . . . . . .

Knowing how to gain the support and
cooPeration of others in solving mutual

problems . . . . . . .

Ability to understand and respect the
convictions of people with whom I dis-

agree. a o o o o o o 0

Ability to relate to people who are in a

position of authority.

161

SD

SD

SD

SD

SS

SS

SS

SS

APPENDIX B

Secondary School Project Questionnaire

Post-test Form

162

Secondary School Project Questionnaire

Form POST

Dear Student:

The purpose of this questionnaire is to determine how
you feel about this course and all the activities associated
with it and related to it. There are no right or wrong
answers to the questions. We want to know how you feel and
what‘ygg_think.

Your response will be treated anonymously. It is very
important that you complete the questionnaire individually
and n9£_in cooperation with anyone else.

Read the directions before each section and proceed

until you complete the entire questionnaire. Please begin.

163

 

164

STUDENT PosT-TEgg
PART ONE

1. Are you glad that you're enrolled in this course?
(Yes or No) Why?

2. When this course began you were asked,
expect this course to be like?"
you expected it to be?

"What do you
Is this course what
(Yes or No)

In what ways?

3. In what ways has this course changed you?

165

PART TWO

Read each statement carefully. Then indicate, as accurately

as you can, on the scale which appears to the right of

each

statement, the response you judge to be most descriptive of

your position.

If you gtrongly disagree with the statement,
CirCIe SD. 0 O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O 0 @ D

If you disagree with the statement, circle D . SD (:)

If you agree with the statement, circle A. . . SD D ® SA

If you strongly agree with the statement,
Circ1e SA. 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 SD D

1. Knowing what you wantgip lifg;

a. I have a clear idea of the direction I

want my life to take . . . . - . . . . . SD D
b. I am aware of most of my important

beliefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D
c. I recognize problems in relation both to

my own personal living and to the larger

society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D
d. I attack problems as a whole, and in

relation to other problems, rather than

one at a time or in a hit or miss

fashion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D
e. In terms of knowing what yog wantgin lifg, this

course: (check one)

1. Contributed a great deal to my development.
It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

A SA
A SA
A SA
A SA

continued

166

3. Was of some help to me, but in general was

rather poor.

4. Contributed very little to my development

this respect.

2. Usinngesources:

a.

I know a number of people to whom I can go
for effective help on solving a problem. .
I approach and use these people and yet do
not take advantage of them or lean too
heavily upon them. . . . . . . . . . . . .
I am effective in bringing knowledge and
past experience to bear upon new problems.
I am familiar with a variety of useful
local resources such as libraries,
museums, social agencies, government
bureaus, forums, etc.. . . . . . . . . . .
I use local resources for materials,
evidence, and further experiences. . . . .
In terms of gging resources, this course:

(check one)

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

in

l. Contributed a great deal to my develOpment.

It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

rather poor.

in this respect.

4. Contributed very little to my development

3. Was of some help to me, but in general was

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

167

3. Handlingggvidence and Data:
a. In attacking a problem, I take the time
and effort to inventory possible causes,
outcomes, and methods of solving the
problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D A
b. I consider the consequences of my solu-
tionvto a problem. . . . . . . . . . . . SD D A
c. I have an experimental attitude in
attacking problems . . . . . . . . . . . SD D A
d. I seek all possible evidence related
to a problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D
e. I collect facts in a systematic fashion. SD D
f. I tend to be objective in dealing with
facts related to a problem . . . . . . . SD D A
g. I am careful to distinguish between fact
and opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SD D A
h. In a discussion I am insistent upon
fairness on the part of all members
participating, including myself. . . . . SD D A

i. In terms of handling evidence and data,
this course: (check one)

1. Contributed a great deal to my development.
It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

3. was of some help to me, but in general was
rather poor.

4. Contributed very little to my development
in this respect.

168

4. Carrying plans into action:

I act upon conclusions arrived at
through the use of the thinking process
I face the effects of my conclusions. .
I tend to leave my conclusions on an
intellectual level, rather than apply
them to my daily life activities. . . .
I use action as the test of my plans
and conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . .
I revise my plans in light of addi-
tional evidence . . . . . . . . . . . .
I can be depended upon to see a problem
through to its solution . . . . . . . .
In terms of carrying plans into action,

(check one)

rather poor.

in this respect.

5. Citizenship:

a.

In considering how I act in political
and civic matters in my community and

state, I am an active citizen . . . . .

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SD D A SA

this course:

1. Cbntributed a great deal to my development.
It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

3. Was of some help to me, but in general was

4. Contributed very little to my development

SD D A SA

l|nl"ll. Ill .1-

Co

169

I make my feelings and position

known to my friends, family, teachers,
principal, and community leaders. . . .
I initiate contacts with people who are
principals in an issue of concern to me
I am interested in and sensitive to
what happens in my community and state.
I try to do something about what hap—
pens in my community and state. . . . .
I involve myself in the work of the
community agencies or citizens' groups
whose function is to solve problems
which I feel need solving . . . . . . .
I express my concerns to community and
state leaders about problems and make
suggestions for improving conditions
which are related to these problems ...
If I feel my position on an issue is
correct I attempt to convince others to

support me and my position. . . . . . .

SD D A
SD D A
SD D A
SD D A
SD D A
SD D A
SD D A

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

SA

In terms of developing my sense of responsibility, my

interest, and my desire to act in citizenship,

course: (check one)

rather poor.

this respect.

1. Contributed a great deal to my development.
It is very strong in this respect.

2. Did a good, but not exceptional job.

3. Was of some help to me, but in general was

4. Contributed very little to my development in

this

170

PART THREE--Activities of Personal Choice

Using the list of activities which follows, please indicate
on the scale which appears to the right of each activity,
the degree to which you spend your time outside of school
in each activity.
If you never spend time on the activity,

circle N. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <:) S F VF

If you sometimes spend time on the activity,
CirCIe S. O . . . O . O . O . O O . O O O N @ F VF A

If you freggently spend time on the active
ity, circle F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N s (:) VF A

If you very freguently spend time on the
activity, circle VF . . . . . . . . . . . N S F‘ 6§§

If you always spend time on the activity,
circle A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N s F VF (2)

1. Reading current fiction. . . . . . . . . N S F VF A
2. Reading poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A
3. Reading magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A
4. Reading the newspaper. . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A
5. Writing letters to the editor. . . . . . N S F VF A
6. Writing verse or prose . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A
7. "Solving the world's problems" in

friendly discussion. . . . . . . . . . . N S VF A

(D
0

Photography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF

9. Watching news and public interest pro—
grams on T.V.... ..... . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A

10 . Hiking or camping. . . . . . . O . . . . N s F VF

ll. Attending a Board of Education meeting
in your school district. . . . . . . . . N S F VF A

12. Hunting or fishing . . . . . . . . . . . N S F VF A

13 . Gardening. 0 . D . . O O . O . 0 . . O O N S F VF A

14.

15.

16.
17.
18.
19.

20.

21.

22.

23.
24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

171

Watching entertainment or sports pro-
grams on T.V. . . . O . . . . . . . . 0

Attending state legislative hearings or
seSSions. O . . . O . O . O . . . . O 0

Working at your favorite hobby. . . . .
Attending a political rally . . . . . .
Attending the legitimate theater. . . .
Playing bridge or other card games. . .

Playing baseball, football, basketball,
soccer. . . O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

.Working with community agencies and/or

groups 0 o o o O o o o o o o o o o O O 0

Visiting museums, art galleries, and
special exhibitions . . . . . . . . . .

Going to the movies . . . . . . . . . .

Attending a Board of Education meeting
in a school district other than yours .

Attending sports events . . . . . . . .

Doing volunteer work-—hospital, social
agency, school. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Self-improvement through reading,
special courses, correspondence courses

Attending a lecture, forum, discussion
group session . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Working voluntarily for a candidate for
public Office 0 O O 0 O O O . O O . O 0

Cooking and/or sewing, needlework . . .

Attending court sessions and public
hearings O O O . . O O O O O O O O O O 0

Hanging around a community center or
youth canteen . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Z 25 52 Z 2:

mmmmm

"11'11'11'11'11

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

v 3’ i” > >’

33.
34.

35.
36.

172

Bowling, billiards, ping pong.

Attending town meetings or community

council meetings .

~Skating,

Golfing,

skiing,

tennis.

tobogganing .

VF

VF

VF

VF

PART

173

FOUR

After reading the paragraph which follows, check in the
columns at the right, the statement you consider the best,

most

reasonable answer to the question and the statement

you consider the poorest or weakest answer. Do this for

each

I. Who should attack and attempt to solve ‘ ’ ,
this problem?

a.
b.
c.
d.

II. Why are we slow in making progress?

a.

7 before we will make progress . . . L

of the four questions.

Thgrdeath of the world is imminent because the human
population of the planet is about five times too
large, and we're managing to support all these peOple--
at today's level of misery--on1y by spending our
capital, burning our fossil fuels, dispersing our
mineral resources and turning our fresh water into
salt water. We have not only overpopulated but over-
stretched our environment. We are poisoning the eco-
logical systems of the earth-~systems upon which we
are ultimately dependent for all of our food, for all
of our oxygen and for all of our waste disposal.

These very complex ecosystems are made up of many dif-
ferent kinds of organisms; we're killing off those
organisms and simplifying the systems. The stability
of ecosystems is dependent on their complexity; if
they become simple, they become unstable.

Dr. Paul Ehrlich

Best Poorest
Answer Answer

All the people of the world. .
All the people in the nation .
Local communities. . . . . . .
Persons directly concerned . .

People are indifferent; they don't
care much; they have other things
on their minds and are willing to
"let the other guy do it." . . . .

We do not know what we want. Since
there are many different groups,
peOples, and cultures in this coun-
try, we must come to a common agree-
ment of what we hope to accomplish

 

 

 

III.

C.

d.

What should we do about this problem?

a.

174

People are just talking about the
problem and have very‘little knowl-
edge about it; no action is being
taken to solve the problem. . . . .

We do not get at fundamental causes.
We have thought of it as a single

problem, while really it is part of
our whole social system . . . . . .

Many people are not willing to work
hard the way they did years ago.

If people were ready to work hard,
there would be progress on thiS'
problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Improve our educational system by
devoting more time to the study of
such problems and by increasing our
emphasis on facts, skills, and
abilities related to the problem . .

Reform our government by improving
the Operation of it. We should work
for greater honesty and competence
in our government. The incompetents
should be recalled to private life .

 

Work for increased governmental con-

trol over conditions which contribute

to this prOblem. . . . . O O . O . .

Make some significant changes in our
society. This means a change in the
ruling class. It may mean something
like our American Revolution of 1776

Each individual in our country must
care about the problem, and then
seek the best way he or she can be
most effective in initiating changes
of the conditions which contribute
to or cause the problem. . . . . . .

 

In the long run, time will be the

most effective positive help in work—

ing out a solution. Time will pro—
vide for a slow but gradual change .

Best
Answer

 

Poorest

h Answer

 

g.

175

People should keep out of problems
that are not their business. This
problem would not exist if every—

one did this. . . . . . . . . . . .

IV. What is the hope of progress in solv-
ing this problem?

a. We can expect progress in the next

five or ten years . . . . . . . . .

b. We can expect progress in the next

fifty years . . . . . . . . . . . .

There is practically no hope of
progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The outlook is very grave. Things
will get worse before they get
better . . . . O O O O . . O O . O .

F

 

Best

Answer _

 

Poorest
Answer

 

176

PART FIVE

Read each statement carefully. Then indicate whether you

are: strongly dissatisfied, dissatisfied,

satisfied, or

strongly,satisfied with your personal development in each

area.

If you are strongly dissatisfied,
circle SD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you are dissatisfied, circle D

If you are satisfied, circle S

If you are strongly satisfied, circle SS .
1. Ability to handle tension. . . . . . .
2. Ability to control emotions. . . . . .

3. Ability to compete without resenting
competitors 0 O O O . O O O . O O O O O

4. Self—reliance. . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. Ability to stick to a task . . . . . .
6. Knowing my own abilities . . . . . . .
7. Knowing how to attack a problem. . . .

8. Ability to understand my parents'
point of View. . . . . . . . . . . . .

9. Ability to make ethical or moral dis-
tinctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

lO. Ability to get along with adults . . .

ll. Knowing how to get involved in commun-
ity activities . . . . . . . . . . . .

12. Developing a philosophy of life. . . .

l3. Knowing where to go to get the facts
Of an issue. Q 0 O O O O O O O O O O O

14. Knowing how to influence people. . . .

15. Knowing how to resolve a conflict in
opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16. Developing a clear sense of myself
(who I am) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

@
SD
SD
SD
SD

SD

SD
SD
SD
SD

SD
SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD

SD
SD

SD

é?)
D
D
D

U U U U C!

S
S
S
S

CDCDCOUJU)

SS
SS

éé

SS

SS

SS
SS
SS
SS

SS
SS

SS

SS

SS

SS

SS

SS
SS

SS

17.

18.

19.

20.

Ability to distinguish fact from

opinion. . . . . . . . .

Knowing how to gain the support and
cooperation of others in solving

mutual problems. . . . .

Ability to understand and respect the
convictions of people with whom I dis—

agree. Q Q o o o o o o 0

Ability to relate to people who are in

a position of authority.

177

SD

SD

SD

SD

SS

SS

SS

SS

178

PART SIX

Read each statement carefully. Then indicate whether you:

agree, probably agree, prgbably disagree, or disagree.

If you agree, circle A.,. . . . . . . . . (:) PA PD
If you are uncertain, but pr 9 bably agree,
circlePA.......... ......A@PD
If you are uncertain, but probably disagree,
circlePD.................APA®
If you disagree, circle D . . . . . . . . . . A PA '-

.1. In general, my own experience in this
course has been a good one. . . . . . . . A PA PD

2. There are good opportunities for students
to get to know, meet, or work with facul-
ty members outside the classroom. . . . . A PA PD

3. Students have a good opportunity to in-
fluence the direction of this course. . . A PA PD

4. Students have freedom to develop their
own activities in this course . . . . . . A PA PD

5. This course offers a good range and
variety of interesting activities . . . . A PA PD

6. This course develops the student's abil-
ity to analyze and criticize written and
visual materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD

7. This course offers really useful knowl—
edge and develops really useful skills. . A PA PD

8. This course has helped me to understand
People better 0 O O O o O o o o o o o o o A PA PD

9. This course has strengthened my political
awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD

10. Through this course I am improving my
ability to work with people who are dif—
ferent from me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD

11. My ability to think and reason has im—
proved because of this course . . . . . . A PA PD

12. This course is the best course I am tak-
ing this year 0 o 0 o o o o o o o o o o o A PA PD

0%

179

13. Many students in this course develop a
strong sense of responsibility about
their role in contemporary social and
political life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA

14. Students in this course seem to expect
other people to adapt to them rather than
trying to adapt themselves to others. . . A PA

15. This is the best course I have had in
high school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA

16. This course tends to make students more
practical and realistic . . . . . . . . . A PA

17. People in positions of authority don't
listen to young peOple. . . . . . . . . . A PA

18. Students put a lot of energy into every—
thing they do, in class and out . . . . . A PA

19. Because of this course, I am more in-
volved in the activities of groups and
agencies in the community . . . . . . . . A PA

20. When this course is ended I plan to con-

tinue the fight against environmental
decay O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O A PA

PART SEVEN

 

PD

PD

PD

PD

PD

PD

PD

PD

A. Please list the characteristics of this course which,
your Opinion, make it unique and different from other

courses you have taken or are taking.

B. In what ways, in your opinion, can this course be made

better?

in

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