Exxon Education Foundation Research Articles

Much of What I Needed to Know I Learned by Teaching Mathematics

What would you say if asked to deliver a commencement address and could not refuse? I found myself trying to answer that question. The only parameters were to keep it to ten minutes or less and make it appropriate to the occasion. I knew that it had to reflect my concept of education as a lifelong endeavor, that it had to reflect my experience as a mathematics educator, and that it should contain some of the important themes from my work with problem solving for teachers. As I composed the speech, I recalled how the elements of problem solving extend far beyond the mathematics classrooms. I have gotten very positive responses from people who are familiar with the current role of problem solving in the mathematics curriculum and from those who respond to the more general themes. I gave this address on 16 May 1998 at the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh. It has also appeared in the June 1998 issue of Intersection, a newsletter published monthly by the NCTM and the Exxon Education Foundation.

Promising Research, Programs, and Projects: NCTM / Exxon Education Foundation K-3 Moth Specialist Project

In 1987 the Exxon Education Foundation began its K-3 Math Specialist Project to improve teaching and learning mathematics at the early elementary school level. The decision to focus on the early grades was prompted by research showing that interest and ability in mathematics tend to decline after grade 3. The purpose of the project was to test whether changing the way mathematics is taught in the early grades would affect children's understanding of, and attitude toward, the discipline in future grades.

PREDICTING GENDER AND MAJOR-FIELD DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL SELF-CONCEPT DURING COLLEGE

Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. vol. I. pp. 291-307. I994 PREDICTING GENDER AND MAJOR-FIELD DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL SELF-CONCEPT DURING COLLEGE Linda J. Sax Higher Education Research Institute, University of Califomto. Los Angeles. Los Angeles. CA 90095 Self-ratings of tnatltetnatical ability produce some of the largest gender dtferences among first-year college students. Further. mathematical self-concept is the one measure of academic self-concept that decline: during college. However. little research hasfacrtsed on the predictors of math cotfidence for college students. This study exantinexflxtots related to changes in tnatltetnatioal self-concept during college atdfixuse: specifically on how were factors drier by gender and major field. Regression results indicate that traditional predictors of math confidence operate difleretttly for men and women in science and nottscience fields. INTRODUCTION Among academic self-rating measures. self-concept in math ranks near the bottom among college students: while 53.8% of first-year college students rate themselves “above aver- ageq or in the “highest I095q in academic ability, only 37.7% choose these top categories for mathematical ability (Astin, Korn. Sax. & Mahoney. 1994). During the college years. while students gain confidence in their overall academic abilities, their confidence in math has been shown to decline (Astin. I977, 1993). Additionally. such declines occur dispro- portionately among women (Sax. I99-ta). These findings are especially discouraging given the welI—documented connection between self-concept and achievement (Astin. I977. I993; Bailey, I971; Byme, 1984; Hansford and Hattie. I982). Mathematical self-concept has long been shown to be a positive predictor of persistence in math (Sherman, I983) and perfonnance on tests of math ability (Astin. I993; Ethington, I988; Marsh. Smith. & Barnes. I985; Meece, Parsons. Kaczala, Goff & Futterman. 1982; Sherman, I982). Even when one controls for math ability, math self-concept is uniquely predictive of a number of college outcomes, includ- ing overall college grades, GRE-Quantitative scores, and postcollege scientific career aspirations (Sax. 1993). Given the importance of math self-concept for college outcomes. it is important to outline the factors that promote math confidence during college. Unfortunately, little research is available on the factors associated specifically with the development of math An earlier version of this paper was presented at the I993 meeting or‘ the Association for the Study of Higher Education. in‘Piusburgh, Pennsylvania. This research is aided by grams from the Exxon Education Foundation and the National Science Foundation. ISSN I072-8325I94S3.00 Cnpyrighl 0 I994 by Begell House. Inc. 29]

Global Refugee Policy: An Agenda for the 1990s

From February 20-22, 1992, 30 participants gathered at the Wye Center in Queens town, Maryland for a conference on Global Refugee Policy: An Agenda for the 1990s. The meeting was organized by the Program on International and U.S. Refugee Policy of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. The purposes of the conference were to review developments concerning refugees and other forced migrants over the last decade, take stock of the current worldwide refugee situation, consider the policy challenges of the 1990s, and formulate policy options to meet the new demands on die international system. Participants came from thirteen countries and included representatives of governments (9), international organizations (5), nongovernmental organizations (2), foundations (4), uni? versities (8), and policy/research organizations (2). In preparation for the discussions, participants received the draft of a monograph on Global Refugee Policy: An Agenda for the 1990s.2 and ten background papers. The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Whitehead Foundation provided the funding for the conference and the preparation of materials. Travel funds for a number of participants were provided by The Exxon Education Foundation.

Critical reflections on Hirsch and cultural literacy

Early in his book Cultural Literacy, E. D. Hirsch, Jr. reaches two conclusions. They concern the lack of knowledge among modern youth and the impossibility of teaching reading and writing divorced from specific content. It is upon these two conclusions that I shall concentrate in this paper. Custom suggests that page 8 is a little early to arrive at conclusions of this type. The data supporting them only follow in a subsequent chapter (pp. 41-47). Yet this is the nature of Hirsch's book: journalistic, impressionistic, and totally convinced of the rectitude of the views advanced: namely, that reading and writing can be taught in schools by a common curriculum imparting the basic information constituting cultural literacy and embodying the norms and values of yesteryear when most people could read and write. These views clearly appealed to the Exxon Education Foundation, who funded Hirsch's research, and to Dr. William Bennett, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Secretary of Education to President Ronald Reagan, who has championed Hirsch's ideas in the corridors of power. Both responses, following an earlier Hirsch article in The American Scholar, "pulled me away from my ordinary scholarly concerns and into educational activism" (p. ix). Hirsch's book is not a "scholarly" work that painstakingly argues for conclusions that are evaluated in the light of conflicting evidence. Cultural Literacy is a work of "educational activism" in which the author advocates views aimed at advancing the interests of the elites holding political and economic power. For this purpose Hirsch uses the rhetoric of a conservative populism: conservative because he wishes to return to a common or "extensive curriculum" in order to revive the flagging "national vocabulary" (p. 139) and

Integrating ethics into the business school curriculum

A project on teaching business ethics at The Wharton School concluded that ethics should be directly incorporated into key MBA courses and taught by the core business faculty. The project team, comprised of students, ethics faculty and functional business faculty, designed a model program for integrating ethics. The project was funded by the Exxon Education Foundation.

Manfred Weidhorn. Churchill's Rhetoric and Political Discourse. (Exxon Education Foundation Series on Rhetoric and Political Discourse Vol. 17.) New York: University Press of America. 1987. Pp. xvii, 135. $24.75 cloth $12.75 paper.

Manfred Weidhorn. Churchill's Rhetoric and Political Discourse. (Exxon Education Foundation Series on Rhetoric and Political Discourse Vol. 17.) New York: University Press of America. 1987. Pp. xvii, 135. 12.75 paper. - Volume 20 Issue 3

ChemInform Abstract: Reversible Long‐Range Electron Transfer in Ruthenium‐Modified Sperm Whale Myoglobin.

CpMo(C0),SiMe2CMe2CMe2H + CpMo(CO),' (5) the product ratio for this mechanism is given by [3a]/[2a] = k,[la]/k,, where 3a is the thexylsilyl product in analogy to the group 14 derivative^.^^ In other words, formation of the thexyl product should be favored by high concentrations of la. As no substantial quantity of any other product was observed at hydride concentrations up to ca. 0.9 M in benzene, a finely ground sample of la was treated with neat HMS. Analysis of this reaction mixture by 'H NMR showed the formation of 2a and ca. 13% of 3a, the thexyldimethylsilyl molybdenum complex,26 as predicted by the proposed radical chain mechanism. The trace amounts of molybdenum dimers [CpMo(CO),(L)], formed in eq 1 are consistent with chain termination during the reaction. A ca. IO-fold increase in the initial rate is observed upon addition of a few mole percent of triphenylmethyl radical (as the dimer).27 In a separate experiment, stoichiometric reaction of trityl dimer with la in the absence of HMS produced triphenylmethane and [CPMO(CO)~]~, presumably from the coupling of CpMo(CO), radicals. Attempts to establish the intermolecularity of (1) by means of a cross-over experiment using CpMo(CO),D and (MeCp)Mo(CO),H were thwarted by the extremely rapid isotopic scrambling observed between these complexes in the absence of HMS. Comparison of initial rates measured by using a single batch of la shows no effect on eq I by carbon monoxide (1.5 atm) or tetramethylethylene (0.31 7 M).19 These facts, in conjunction with a negative activation entropy (AS* = -25 f 3 eu),28 preclude reversible dissociation of these species in the rate-controlling step. Changing solvent from benzene to THF also leaves the rate unchanged. In summary, silylene transfer from HMS to molybdenum hydrides is quantitative, and appears to proceed by radical chain ring opening and olefin elimination to yield a transient silyl radical. The apparent stabilization of the silyl radical by metal substitution suggests that radical paths may be more common with metal complexes of silicon ligands than is generally observed in organosilicon chemistry.29 Acknowledgment. We thank the Research Corporation for an Exxon Education Foundation Grant, the University of Pennsylvania Research Fund, and the National Science Foundation (MRL Program, under Grant DMR-8519059) for support of this research.

Reversible long-range electron transfer in ruthenium-modified sperm whale myoglobin

CpMo(C0),SiMe2CMe2CMe2H + CpMo(CO),' (5) the product ratio for this mechanism is given by [3a]/[2a] = k,[la]/k,, where 3a is the thexylsilyl product in analogy to the group 14 derivative^.^^ In other words, formation of the thexyl product should be favored by high concentrations of la. As no substantial quantity of any other product was observed at hydride concentrations up to ca. 0.9 M in benzene, a finely ground sample of la was treated with neat HMS. Analysis of this reaction mixture by 'H NMR showed the formation of 2a and ca. 13% of 3a, the thexyldimethylsilyl molybdenum complex,26 as predicted by the proposed radical chain mechanism. The trace amounts of molybdenum dimers [CpMo(CO),(L)], formed in eq 1 are consistent with chain termination during the reaction. A ca. IO-fold increase in the initial rate is observed upon addition of a few mole percent of triphenylmethyl radical (as the dimer).27 In a separate experiment, stoichiometric reaction of trityl dimer with la in the absence of HMS produced triphenylmethane and [CPMO(CO)~]~, presumably from the coupling of CpMo(CO), radicals. Attempts to establish the intermolecularity of (1) by means of a cross-over experiment using CpMo(CO),D and (MeCp)Mo(CO),H were thwarted by the extremely rapid isotopic scrambling observed between these complexes in the absence of HMS. Comparison of initial rates measured by using a single batch of la shows no effect on eq I by carbon monoxide (1.5 atm) or tetramethylethylene (0.31 7 M).19 These facts, in conjunction with a negative activation entropy (AS* = -25 f 3 eu),28 preclude reversible dissociation of these species in the rate-controlling step. Changing solvent from benzene to THF also leaves the rate unchanged. In summary, silylene transfer from HMS to molybdenum hydrides is quantitative, and appears to proceed by radical chain ring opening and olefin elimination to yield a transient silyl radical. The apparent stabilization of the silyl radical by metal substitution suggests that radical paths may be more common with metal complexes of silicon ligands than is generally observed in organosilicon chemistry.29 Acknowledgment. We thank the Research Corporation for an Exxon Education Foundation Grant, the University of Pennsylvania Research Fund, and the National Science Foundation (MRL Program, under Grant DMR-8519059) for support of this research.

Spatial distance and lexical replacement

SPATIAL DISTANCE AND LEXICAL REPLACEMENT L. L. Cavalli-SforzaWilliam S-Y. Wang Stanford UniversityUniversity of California, Berkeley The 'stepping-stone' model has been used to study genetic similarity of peoples as a function of the geographical distances separating them. A gene is represented by one of several alleles, much as a meaning is represented by one of many words. Based on this parallel, the stepping-stone model is here applied to a body oflinguistic data from a chain of Micronesian islands. The logarithm of the lexical similarity, when plotted against geographical distance, shows a pronounced upper concavity not found in the genetic investigations. This deviation from linearity is largely caused by non-homogeneity of replacement rates in the words studied. Another contributing factor is that the effect of distance on lexical similarity is much greater for the eastern islands in the group. Rates of replacement in space, computed here, show a significant positive correlation with those in time, computed for a related language or for different groups oflanguages.* 1. Introduction. When two speech communities are separated, their languages develop in different ways. The rate at which differences accumulate depends largely on the extent to which the populations continue to interact. The less the interaction, the more rapidly the two languages diverge. Nowadays , contact is greatly enhanced by mass media and fast transportation. But until very recent times, it was the movement of populations and of individuals that generated these interactions. Population movement can affect linguistic change in many ways. For instance , mass movements are important, especially for the macro-geographic distribution of languages. The relocation of a group (or a splinter of a larger group) to a new area is part of the history of settlement of that area, and of the origin of the local language. Usually, however, the history of settlement is complicated and poorly known; pre-existence or later arrival of groups with different languages adds complexity to the picture. But local linguistic differentiation at a micro-geographic level must be affected especially by migration of single individuals or families. Individual migration is a constant phenomenon in all societies, including traditional ones—though it is usually more intense in economically more advanced societies. Relocation of individuals can result from marriage, or can be related to work or other causes; and travel without relocation can be a common event. In earlier times, individual movement must have provided an important social exchange for language. Following the classic work of Hägerstrand 1967, geographers have shown that social exchanges of all sorts tend to decrease regularly with increasing distance. Quantitative study usually supports the validity of simple mathematical functions for the dependence of social contact on spatial distance. Because individual migration is usually maximal at short distances, one can expect * This manuscript was completed while the authors were Fellows at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. We are grateful for financial support provided by NIH grant GM 20467, NSF grant BNS 76-22943, an Exxon Education Foundation grant, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant 82-2-10. 38 SPATIAL DISTANCE AND LEXICAL REPLACEMENT39 it to exercise most of its influence on linguistic differentiation at a micro-geographic level. According to the classical 'wave theory' of diffusion of linguistic change, innovations spread from their place of origin in concentric, circular waves, generating the 'isoglosses' which have been so frequently described in linguistic geography. If each new, independent innovation spreads independently from earlier ones, the result should be a highly varied set of intersecting isoglosses. Geographic, political, or social barriers which generate discontinuities in social (and therefore also linguistic) exchange put constraints on this free variation; and specific patterns of isoglosses may emerge in response to orographic, hydrographie , or political geography. But wherever these constraints do not dominate the picture, there should be greater similarities, on average, between two languages spoken at a shorter geographic distance. This expectation was recognized early by the proponent of wave theory, J. Schmidt, in 1872. A succinct statement of the theory was given by Bloomfield (1933:317): 'Schmidt showed that special resemblances can be found for any two branches of Indo-European , and that these special resemblances are most numerous in the case...

Toward a Sociology of Exile: A Report on an Academic Symposium

In May of 1985, 40 scholars and representatives of a variety of public agencies and private organizations met on the campus of Smith College in North? ampton, Massachusetts to participate in the second of a series of conferences on refugees and refugee policies funded by grants from The Exxon Education Foundation. The first meeting, Working with Refugees, was held in March, 1983. Its participants addressed the politics of rescue and the process of resettlement, paying particular attention to protection, assistance, selection, admission, movement, and adaptation. (The edited proceedings have just been published by The Center for Migration Studies.) The recent symposium had a more academic focus. It was called Toward a Sociology of Exile and sought to zero in on the problems of studying and teaching about the causes and results of forced migrations, the role of international and U.S. law, and the current situation of refugees in developing countries and in the West, especially in the U.S. Toward a Sociology of Exile began with a series of working papers presented by two who had known the experience of exile at first hand: Lewis A. Coser, the well-known German-born sociologist now teaching at SUNY, Stony Brook, spoke with personal poignancy about those Georg Simmel called strangers. Hai Ba Pho, a Vietnamese political scientist affiliated with the University of Lowell, talked about how such strangers can become effective participants in American political and social life. Their remarks bracketed a presentation by John Scanlan of the Indiana University Law School and Gilburt Loescher, a political scientist from Notre Dame, who have just completed a book, Calculated Kindness, on what they see as persisting biases in American refugee admission policies. Their evocative comments and the responses of Charles Sternberg, a refugee from Czechoslovakia who recently retired as Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee, set the stage for the three-day gathering. Together they indicated the

Islam

This volume, which is the print component of an introduction to Islamiccivilization course produced by the Foreign Policy Association in cooperationwith National Public Radio and the University of Texas at Austin, wasmade possible by funds from the Exxon Education Foundation and the Corporationfor Public Broadcasting. Written specifically for adult readers withlittle or no background in Islamic studies, the book lacks the scholarlyparaphernalia of footnotes and diacritical marks.Divided into 14 chapters, the work features the writings of luminaries suchas Fazlur Rahman, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Francis Peters and John O. Voll,to name but a few of the list of contributors. Opening the work is the 28-pagechapter of Peter J. Awn, who gives a comprehensive and introspectiveaccount of Muslim faith and practice. He reminds his predominently Westernaudience that, contrary to the writings of educators, writers and journalistsin the West, Islam is historically a Western religion, deriving from the sameSemitic spritual sources as Judaism and Christianity. After pointing out thehistorical links between Islam and the other Semitic traditions, he goes onto discuss a number of issues in the Islamic religion. Awn’s discussion of thefive pillars of Islam is certainly refreshing, for it shows a sense of sympathyand understanding which has not yet been evident among many of the oldergenerations of Islamicists called orientalists. In his discussion of the diversityin the Muslim Ummah, Awn takes the position that the Sunni/Shite divideshould not be seen in terms of an orthodoxy/heterodoxy dichotomy. He goeson to explain the historical evolution of the tvcro communities in terms of politicsin the early Islamic state, and his account follows the familiar interpretationsin the Western works.The second chapter, written by University of Chicago Professor, Dr. FazlurRahman, treats us to a 25-page study of the Prophet Mohammad. Drawingfrom his earlier work, Professor Rahman gives a very illuminating historicalaccount of the Prophet’s struggle with the Meccan Polytheists. Indeed, whatmakes this chapter quite interesting is the manner in which the author ...

School-College Faculty Collaboratives: Academic Alliances

More than two thousand faculty members who teach foreign languages and literatures in universities, colleges and schools in thirty-eight states now meet monthly or bi-monthly in the eighty-six collaboratives initiated during a project now called (see Appendix). Faculty members form communities of scholars in their discipline in their local area. At their monthly meetings, members help keep each other up to date in their field by systematic reviews of the current quarter's journals. They also prepare and give programs on subjects of common professional interest. Together, group members work toward improving the quality of intellectual life of those teaching the discipline in the local area. These groups, modeled on the original conception of the county medical society and county bar associations, were launched under funding to a project entitled Strengthening the Humanities through Foreign Language and Literature Studies and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Rockefeller Foundation, Exxon Education Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Southern Education Foundation, and the Christian Johnson Endeavor Foundation. Currently under Exxon Education Foundation funding, the Academic Alliances project continues to accept new groups each month and to guide and advise faculty who wish to form groups. The goal of this project is to establish long-term faithful professional relationships among faculty who teach the same discipline in the same local area, overcome the isolation of school and college faculty from each other, and make faculty-driven, ongoing intellectual engagement a normal expectation of all teachers regardless of the age of their students. Of the seventy-three groups initiated in the first three years of the project, five are no longer operating. The rest are continuing to attract an active membership of school and college teachers. The success of the groups launched under the project has implications for faculty in foreign languages and literatures, faculty in each of the major disciplinary subjects, and for American education in general. Language and literature faculty in many areas may find that monthly contact among school and college faculty helps them to build a common professional agenda and creates a higher profile for language study among the citizenry in the area. Faculty begin to understand local problems, like articulation across levels of instruction and expectations of teachers at

A Community Supported Foreign Language High School: The North Fulton Center for International Studies

IN 1979 THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON FOREIGN Language and International Studies made a series of recommendations, one of which called for federal funding to develop twenty International High Schools.' Using already existing high schools, these schools were to serve as national models and to offer intensive foreign language and cultural studies in addition to all regularly required courses. The establishment of up to sixty high schools (one per metropolitan district) was to be a long-term goal. The Commission estimated the cost per school for up to five years as $162,000 a year, or a total of $3.2 million annually for the twenty proposed. This cost took into account additional foreign language teachers and new curricular materials, mainly during the transition phase from ordinary high school programs. Grants for the model schools were to be administered by the US Department of Education. Young Americans, members of the Commission reasoned, are inadequately informed about global issues and lack the foreign language skills to live and work with people beyond our borders. They argue for a federally supported secondary school curriculum to meet this challenge. While this plea succeeded in drawing public attention to the problem, the recommendation itself drew little appeal in an election year of budget controversy. In addition to this political and economic factor, Starr isolates two tactical errors, repeated by advocates of foreign language and international studies, that may account for the limited implementation of the global education campaign: dependence on federal support and reliance on university faculty to spur reform.2 Indeed, signs of forthcoming national legislation appear unrealistic. The administration wants to reduce spending for educational programs from $13 billion in fiscal year 1982 to $10 billion for fiscal year 1983, with student aid, international education, and bilingual programs bearing the brunt of the cuts. In addition, ACTFL reports that support seems to be eroding for Congressman Paul Simon's bill that would provide $87 million in categorical grants to reimburse elementary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions for the costs of providing foreign language and international education instruction.3 The second tactical error committed by friends of international high schools, according to Starr, is the assumption that universities can solve the nation's educational problems. He states that this bias is akin to building a house from the roof down.4 Such a bias in favor of the university professoriate absolves high school teachers, principals, board members, and parents of responsibility for their own neglect of these important aspects of education. The National Seminar on the Implementation of International Schools, sponsored by Exxon Education Foundation in 1980, concurred with Starr's view that an international high school would best be developed through local resources, with federal funds playing at most a temporary supporting role in the beginning, and that it could be sustained best by high school educators themselves, with university professors providing only technical assistance and counsel.5 The present paper describes and evaluates just such a local initiative undertaken in a magnet school, the North Fulton Center for International Studies (NFC), within the Atlanta Public School System. While the NFC will not alone reverse the inactivity that surThe Modern Language Journal, 67, ii (1983) 0026-7902/83/0001/142 $1.50/0

The Costs of Higher Education: How Much Do Colleges and Universities Spend per Student and How Much Should They Spend? A Report Prepared with the Support of the Exxon Education Foundation and the Ford Foundation and Issued by the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education. Howard R. Bowen Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. 1980 Foreward by Clark Kerr. 266 Pages

The Costs of Higher Education: How Much Do Colleges and Universities Spend per Student and How Much Should They Spend? A Report Prepared with the Support of the Exxon Education Foundation and the Ford Foundation and Issued by the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education. Howard R. Bowen Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. 1980 Foreward by Clark Kerr. 266 Pages

Impacts on college administration: Management information systems and management by objectives systems

Forty-nine private liberal arts colleges received grants from the Exxon Education Foundation to improve their management procedures. Research was conducted to determine the success of the management innovations, and the impact of the process on the college's management. About half the colleges had innovations that completely failed because of staff turnover, inadequate administrative support, or other causes. In the other, more successful group the research showed a number of positive impacts of the projects: (1) Management Information Systems were quite useful in providing comprehensive management data, in analyzing “hot spots” of trouble, and increasing sophistication of administrators; (2) Management by Objectives projects increased administrative and faculty morale and insured more adequate planning, and (3) combinations of both MIS and MBO projects produced the strongest positive impact. Both types of projects, however, failed to link planning with budgeting, a major flaw.