The relationship of cognitive style and method of instruction to performance in grade nine geography.
Date
1969
Authors
Grieve, Tarrance Don
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Abstract
The learning performance of 117 Grade Nine geography students was studied as a function of task presentation and cognitive style. A discovery and an expository instructional method were operationally defined in terms of the sequence with which instruction was given, and Cognitive Style was defined in terms of an individual's performance on the Hidden Figures Test. The learning task involved the acquisition of knowledge of the geography of Japan and the acquisition of the ability to handle geographic materials similar to those used in the Japan unit. Experimental Ss were presented with 11 hours of instruction through typical geographic materials and activities introduced by two teacher trained in both discovery and expository sequencing. Separate 2 x 2 analyses of he data revealed a significant main effect of Cognitive Style for males and females but the main effect of Method was not reliable. Identical results were obtained for extreme global and analytic females. For extreme global and analytic males the main effects were not reliable but the Cognitive Style and Method interaction was. This interaction indicated that global males experience difficulty under an expository method and that under a discovery method their performance is not significantly different from that of analytic males under either method.