An instructional system that is both efficient and effective should present information so that it is easily processed by learners and so that the cognitive structures resulting from instruction correspond to the structure of the content to be learned. This paper presents a discussion of methods for describing content structure and cognitive…

This study focuses on the question of "emotional style," defined as the structure or lack of structure in the interaction between teacher and student. Characteristics of "open" and "structured" teachers and students are defined. It is hypothesized that a matching of teacher and student emotional style will result in…

This document examines the differences of cognitive styles and how they pertain to student performance and effective teaching. Persons identified as "field-dependent" people are particularly attuned and differentially attend to the social dimensions of their environment. Due to this orientation, these persons appear to be more skillful at learning…

Cognitive style research is hindered by a variety of poorly described measures and style classifications and the use of small samples. This study described and compared three group measures of impulsivity/reflectivity, internal/external locus of control; and field dependence/independence to determine the distribution characteristics, psychometric…

The personal problem-solving process can be functionally analyzed from a cognitive-behavioral perspective into at least four major performance classes: (1) decision making; (2) problem exploration, differentiation, and definition; (3) identification of response alternatives; and (4) performance of an intended solution response. The personal…

The cognitive styles, aptitudes, and abilities of 50 right-handed subjects were measured through a battery of paper-and-pencil tests to determine the feasibility of using event related brain potentials (ERPs) in the development of adaptive training techniques keyed to the information processing styles of individual students. Visual, auditory, and…

This paper explores the influence of field independent-dependent cognitive style on second language test performance, especially as it relates to performance on the integrative type of measure known as the cloze test. Approximately 250 college students enrolled in a first semester Spanish course formed the sample group for this correlational…

Presented is a discussion of the nature of individual differences in the learning of mathematics, which leads to a review of field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles. Field-dependence-independence is noted as an important variable in school learning and a study is cited that investigated the relationship between pupil success at…

Although a number of studies have related personality traits to overall college achievement, little has been done to analyze academic achievement in terms of its cognitive level components and relate these components to personality variables and academic success. Personality characteristics, cognitive levels of functioning and grade point average…

The cognitive learning theories of Bruner and Gagne and the developmental psychology of Piaget play a central role in the development of curriculum models and instructional strategies to better serve the needs of bilingual children or those whose native language is not English. Each theory has components that may be useful to certain stages in…

Behavioral measurement using untrained organizational members as raters is highly dependent on heuristic or automatic processes. Such processes direct attention, simplify encoding and storage, and guide recall of behavioral information by using pre-existing schema to simplify processing; however, such processing results in systematic rather than…

The central concept underlying the approach and strategies offered here is culture as process, that is, the knowledge people use in their everyday life situations. A presupposition is that all human knowledge is cultural. Conceptual patterns are identified within the learner's cognitive framework which will be of importance in teacher-learner…

Teaching styles can be considered from two approaches--the life style approach and the spectrum approach. The first is a relatively static approach borrowed from management research and organizational development. It identifies teaching styles based on Maslow's (1970) hierarchy of human needs. Teaching styles are seen as the interpersonal styles…

Conceptual level is a personal characteristic that describes persons on a developmental hierarchy of increasing conceptual complexity, self-responsibility, and independence. The relationship between gender and conceptual level was explored in a group of 70 male and 63 female college students. The This I Believe Test (TIB) was administered to…

A year-long seminar for elementary teachers in analytic thinking for children (ATC) is offered at the School of Education at Texas Wesleyan College. ATC uses philosophy and logic to help children understand how they think and to improve their reasoning. Four guidelines are given: (1) Discuss the nature and function of authorities and arguments…