Group Will Study Career Abilities Of 700 Students

The Graduate School of Education will test and interview 700 students in Eastern Massachusetts schools, following their careers over a five year period in an attempt to examine the process by which an individual becomes a scientist.

The program, which resulted from a $120,000 grant by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, will involve nine public school systems and the five colleges which most of their graduates attend.

The students studied will be chosen at random. They will be given tests which are readily accessible to all schools, with the results of each test being reviewed in relation to the results on every other test.

This correlation, called "multivariate analysis," was developed recently, and has not been used extensively because so many test scores are involved.

William W. Cooley Ed.D. '58, principal investigator of the study, emphasized that "although our function is primarily to choose scientists, we want to gain knowledge of the abilities which will make students proficient in all fields. This study is by no means designed to prod students to become scientists."

He added that the results of the tests "might encourage students who fear that science is a field restricted to geniuses."