A STUDY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE FIELD-DEPENDENT/FIELD-INDEPENDENT COGNITIVE STYLE AND TWO MODELS OF TEACHING ECONOMICS CONCEPTS TO SIXTH GRADERS
- Author
- KAYLOR, HARRIET BEAHM
- Physical Description
- 146 pages
- Additional Creators
- Pennsylvania State University
Access Online
- Summary
- An investigation of the interaction between two cognitive styles and two models of instruction was the main purpose of this study. The two cognitive styles were defined as extremes on either end of a field-dependence-independence continuum. Ninety-two students from the sixth grade at the Middle School in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, were selected as representing extreme scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) administered before the study began. The extremes were beyond one plus or minus standard deviation from the mean. Scores on the GEFT were used to regroup students so there were equal numbers of the two cognitive styles receiving instruction by each of two models.
A learning activity package (LAP) for each of six economics concepts was designed by the investigator. One model of instruction had students using the LAP's as instructional units for individualized study; the other model used the LAP's for whole-class and small-group instruction. The LAP model was expected to facilitate learning for the field-independent students and the group instruction model was expected to facilitate learning for the field-dependent students.
Two social studies teachers alternated teaching between the LAP classes and the group instruction classes for the nineteen-day period of the economics unit in order to minimize differences in teacher effects. An eighty-nine-item multiple-choice test was given at the beginning of the study and again at the conclusion to determine gain in achievement.
Data were analyzed related to the main hypothesis as well as to two sub-hypotheses that tested the main effects of model of instruction and cognitive style on achievement. No interaction between cognitive style and model of instruction was found. The main effect of model of instruction on achievement was statistically significant in favor of the group instruction model. A post hoc analysis revealed the difference was a result of scores from males and not females. The main effect of cognitive style on achievement was also statistically significant in favor of the field independent students until an analysis controlling IQ reduced the difference to a non-significant level.
Educational implications of the study include the following: (1) sixth-grade students can attain economics concepts through written materials, (2) instructional programs that expect males of this age to achieve well when working alone should be used cautiously and with regard to their maturity levels and needs, (3) the GEFT may not be an adequate instrument to determine individual differences to consider in planning concept learning typical in classrooms, and (4) the negative correlation of IQ and gain for field independent students in the group instruction model indicated a "leveling" effect of that model on differences in general intelligence, but it may also suggest the group instruction model, with pacing more under teacher control than in the LAP model, held back some students with high IQ's. - Other Subject(s)
- Dissertation Note
- Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University 1980.
- Note
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4268.
- Part Of
- Dissertation Abstracts International
41-10A
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