Friday. May I6. lm SCARLET AND BLACK Page Fly. Prof limes drive, hart'tipatory Educaton Editor‘s Note: This article con- sists of selections from a report to the National Science Foundation by Prof. Robert Voertnran. The report, which discusses “undergraduate re- search participation" as an altema— tive approach to the more conven- tional course system, heavily re- ilects experiences in the ACM pro- gram in Costa Rica. By ROBERT VDERTMAN Professor of Economics The case for intensive research ex~ periences for undergraduates is based upon recognition that the functional ob- jective of a college education is to de- velop a serviceable capacity for con- tinued learning. The most critical aspect of an intensive research experience is its parallel to selfaeducation. Ability to engage in active learning, to pursue new knowledge independently of the guid- ance and i‘emfarcement of a teacher's personality, is acquired by learning and practicing a full sequence of the pro- cess of inquiry, Research is a term which is used to cover a wide range'ot types of inqnlry. It may only mean a search or literature intended to reveal in an orderly way the present state of knowledge on a par ticular problem or phenomenon. It may encompass a sequence of activities in- volving primary observations in the field or observations of an experience of on experimental order, organization of the observations. their interpretation or analysis and preparation of reports. Al- ternatively, research may consist of the application of procedures to available primary data leading to a new lnfer< ence or meanillg. Nevertreless, all of these different types of research share the quality of being active inquiry. Re search, as active inquiry, necessitates the exercise of critical judgment in male ing decisions. It is an active learning process in which inquiry is conducted to discover what is not known, and to attempt to present accurately what has been discovered. Critical judgment is required at many points in the process and the development of this capactity is decisive in the transition from passive or directed learning to that form of active learning which is characteristic of in- tellectual independence. To set the oper- ational goal for undergraduate educa- tion requires that the program of ex- periences involve the development of critical judgment essential to intellectual indepedetrce. Development of capacity for crltical judgment is not precluded in the con- ventional course or classroom pattern of relationships, but a classroom is not all efficient social arrangement for this purpose. Learning experiences in a classroom setting tend to cluster at the passive end of the range rather than at the active end. Students roles in class- rooms are those of spectators most oi the time even if the Class is conducted using a discussion or a recitation fore mat. In the most common case where the professor lectures the mles of the students are essentially passive. It is sometimes possible for an audience of students to be prompted into some cre- ative thought by a skillful] lecturer. This becomes a more reliable expecta- tion if the students have already en- gaged in some independent thought on the subject. The overwhelming aspect of all classroom situations, however, is the presence oi the authority of the teacher who, as both expert and judge is in con— trol. Critical judgments about signifi- cance and meaning even when students participate in discussion are expected of the teacher, and this is, of course the logic of the classroom, or the lecture hall as an educptional setting. IMPROVED LEARNING Beyond the classroom, the extension oi control or direction by the professor who is teaching a course may be quite variable on the scale of passive to active roles for the students who are taking the course. The most typical Situation is for the major decisions to be made by the professor. Reading selections, usually Contained ill a textbook or an edited col- Iection, along with study guides, ques- tions. problems and the like are handed out by the professor. It is the mark of a "good course” that it be well pro- grammed, and indeed it we take B. F. Skinner’s experimental evidence ser- lously (and i do accept most of what he has reported) a well designed program can function very eificiently in master- ing a well—defined body of knowledge. Here is the essence of the customary cri- teria for courses: that the learning of the subject be so well programmed that students can’t fail to learn. Or, to put. it another way, a well programmed course is one in which the way is so well mark- ed that at each step the learner ls as sured that he is on the right path (that is what I understand is meant by posi- tive reinforcement). Independent study may be said to lie at the opposite extreme of the active~to- passive scale from programmed leam- ing. True independence implies the task oi creating a program. independent in- NOTiCE As in previous years, we will store your portable iypewriiers for the summer at no charge. We will have them in- uteri. While your portable is in, why not have us chemically. clean and oil it. and have It already tat another year at hard work next year? @RENNEM OFFIC 5&5?th Across From The Post Office quit-y is not simply the absence of a classroom, bltt the absence of a road map and a preordained (or professor ordained) destination. Intellectual inde- pendence is achieved when an investi- gator has developed the ability to dectdc which “authority” is useful; to decide which eVldence, which procedure. which hypothesis and which inference Di‘ Conclusion is appropriate to the inquiry. I believe the gap between dependent or passive learning and independent in- quiry to be substantial. We have a vast and growing number of highly “edu~ cated” people who do not bridge this gap. While many do make this transition to intellectual independence, the bridg- ing is largely left to chance in the sys- tern of higher learning. The crucial role oi research participation is to provide for his transition. As participating ap- prentices in a research undertaking, students can be involved in the process at “cieating a program.” By participat- ing with the professor in the crltical judgments which must be made in the design and conduct of original inquiry all of the processes of inquiry may be experienced by the student. This is a very diilerent activity from retreading the achieved results of inquiries past and synthesized into the textbook or the well taught course. it is, 1 think, a crucial type of experience in preparation for intellectual independence, TEACHING VSi RESEARCH Scholarly achievement is the para- mount qualification ior holding oihce as a college faculty member. Creative scholarship is encouraged and supported by institutions of higher learning both as a valid independent function and as a condition of continuing competence to teach. A presumption that superior scho« lurs ate superior teachers is built into the system of faculty ranks by relating promotion in the hierarchy oi pay, priv- ilege and power to evidence of scholar- ship, and the sciences successful careers in academia are most apt to reflect re- search periormance. in short, tlle model ior the academic bureaucracy is con- struclcd on a premise of mutual rein- iorcement of scholarship and teaching. Operational realities are typically poorly adjusted to the model, and ten- sions arising irom conflicts between teaching and research functions are sources of continuous and often intense pressure within the system. “Teaching loads" are burdens, and those who can establish claims to superior research competence, especially by obtaining re search grants, are most successiul in shifting their loads to others who are either less active in research, or at least at a lower level in the hierarchy. What- ever the plausibility of the model, the pressures within the system tend to the paradoxical result of rewarding schol< arship with minimum teaching respon- sibilties and by punishing ineptitude, in< experience or dedication to teaching with the bulk of the teaching burden. Conflict between teaching and re search is most overtly and seriously a matter of the allocation of time. Teacllc lng activities occupy time, and mean- ings and measurements ascribed to teaching loads onen stress basic work- time concepts; class hours. studcnicon- tactrhours, and the like. Scholarship n1- so occupies time, and those tensions which have become serious pressures in- ternal to academia are most directly re- flected in these competing claims for time. Long standing defense of the com- plementarity of teaching and scholar- slnp emphasizes the contributions or re- Search to teaching performance. but the characteristic problem for the professor is to arrange for his teaching activi- ties to contribute to his scholarship. This non-reinforcement of research from teaching duties tends to be most marked at the undergraduate level. Hence, it is not surprising that a common view of progress in academics is the shift from undergraduate to graduate level teach- ing. A course. as a program designed to teach students what the professor alrea- dy knows, features the behavior of the professor as the authority. By contrast a research project places the professor in the role of inquirel'. In the authority role when he ls asking questions, they are understood to be rhetorical. When he is a scientist Iead< ing a research team he is asking ques- tions which do not yet have answers. These two styles of behavior are quite different. Students continuously observe and respond to professional behavior models, and the model or the professor as inquirer ls surely an excellent one to have in full View. This exposure is apt to be most clear alld useful if stu. dents are accepted as genuine collabor« ators in the research. As collaborators they can, and Will engage in discussions of strategies and methods for the in< vesttgatiore. They will welcome involve- ment in making critt’cal judgments of alternative courses of action. Questions which are discussed in this relationship are not those designed simply to test: the understanding of the statements. but questions which are open in the mind of the professor; questions for which he is seeking answers. This shift in role from authority to Inquirer also modifies the order of pref~ crences in interacting with students as co-researchers. Lecturing becomes a less fruitful activity in ’ this relationship. While the teacher. as scientist, must still exercise final judgment in the pro- gramming of research, the experiences of students as rescal‘ch associates be- come essential information in this pro- cess. What studenc say becomes in- teresting and useful and listening is made easy. Conversations become au- thentic exchanges. Specific information supplied by students in the form of written reports, data schedules and the like are read with interest. The process of criticism and evaluation of students' works has the vital purpose of improv- ing performance relative to the success of the inquiry, Errors are no longer the stuff from which poor marks are fash- ioned. Rather. the effort toward Cloris fication of the Source of difficulty of misunderstanding takes clear proce- dence over “grading." Grade A per- formances by the entire “class" may not be realized, but this is obviously an at. tractive functional goal. Professional de- tachment or disengagement in the face of “failure" turns out to be a much less acceptable posture. DISCOVER WORKAELE PROJECTS FOR RESEARCH PARTICIPATION While it does not seem to me that there is a single or best formula. there are some guidelines for the identification oi projects suitable to the intellectual col- laboration of undergraduates and profes< sors which I have Called research parti- cipation. It is critical that the activities of students not be limited simply to per- formance of routine precedures, but ex- tended to include analysis, interpretation and the writing of reports. Nevertheless, the most obviously suitable projects are those which do involve the collection of primary data from either iield observa- tions or laboratory experiments. Simi- larly suitable projects may be based up- on examination, organization and analy- sis of information contained in statisti- cal collections, historlcal documents, EDUCATION— (Continued on Page ii)