A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE FORTY WASHINGTON TRIP WINNERS IN THE THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL WESTINGHOUSE SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH, THEIR SPONSORING TEACHERS, THEIR SCHOOLS, THE SCIENCE CURRICULA OF THEIR SCHOOLS, AND THEIR PROJECTS

The purpose of this study was to collect demographic, attitudinal, and other information about the forty Washington Trip Winners in the Thirty-ninth Annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search, their sponsoring teachers, their schools, the science curricula of their schools, and their projects. This information, along with recommendations from the winners and the sponsoring teachers was used to develop a set of recommendations to help science teachers provide their students with the opportunity to conduct quality research and develop good research skills.;It was found that the Washington Trip Winners were all good students with high grade point averages, class ranks, and SAT scores. Almost all planned to major in science or mathematics in college. Most had previous successful science fair experience and came from well-educated families. Nearly half had at least one parent whose occupation was science or math oriented.;The sponsoring teachers were all "veteran" teachers with nine or more years of teaching experience. Most held Master's degrees or higher and about half reported having research experience in either high school or college. Their primary role in the students' research was resource person or inspirer/encourager.;Nearly all of the students came from schools of 1,000 or more students. Most of the schools were public schools with a 9-12 organizational structure. Nine of the forty winners came from special public schools (i.e. gifted/science/magnet).;The information was collected by questionnaires mailed to the Washington Trip Winners and their sponsoring teachers. 87.5 percent of the students and 70.0 percent of the teachers responded.;Science enrollments in the schools were generally high percentage-wise. The average annual science budget for the schools was ;The primary sources of Westinghouse project ideas were National Science Foundation Secondary Science Training Programs and scientific books and journals. Resource people such as university researchers played important roles in the research of most of the students.;The winners and their sponsoring teachers were asked to give advice for students and teachers who might be interested in participating in future Westinghouse Science Talent Searches. Lists of their recommendations were compiled. These recommendations were used to develop a set of guidelines to assist science teachers in providing their talented science students an opportunity to conduct quality research and develop good research skills.