THE EFFECTS OF MODES OF PRESENTATION ON THE STABILITY OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS COGNITIVE STYLES
THE EFFECTS OF MODES OF PRESENTATION ON THE STABILITY OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS COGNITIVE STYLES
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Date
1987
Authors
OGUNSOLA-BANDELE, MERCY FUNKE (MRS)
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Abstract
The existence of the construct of cognitive style
has been well documented in the l i t e r a t u r e . Its orient
a t i o n and d i s t r i b u t i o n among subjects of different
cultural settings have been the focus of most published
r e p o r t s . The efforts at classification however have
limited educational value unless they can be employed to
improve the teaching - learning processes.
The purposes of the present study were to re-confirm
the d i s t r i b u t i o n of cognitive style among a General class
chemistry students (of GCE A Level equivalents), validate
another self-designed instrument (the DIT) which may be
used to assess the distribution of subjects on the four
dimensional model proposed by Heath, identify the teachers
perception of t h e i r students cognitive styles so as to
draw inferences on the possible influence of the teachers
perception of students cognitive styles on the students
own cognitive s t y l e s , and finally determine the effectiveness
of an attempt to shift students cognitive styles
through teaching.
A t o t a l of three hypotheses on the distribution of
cognitive styles among subjects, the effect of teachers
perception of students cognitive styles on students own
cognitive s t y l e s , and the effectiveness of the experiment
a l treatment were tested.
VIII
In the experimental part of the study, the Solomon
4-way (Pre-and Post-test Control Group) design was
employed, with a t o t a l of 69 students and 3 chemistry
teachers. The non-parametric s t a t i s t i c s of X2 and
Mann-Whitney U-tests were used for the analyses.
The results showed that :
. The College of Agriculture students have a comparable
pattern of cognitive styles with their
SBS/ABU counterparts, showing a greater preference
for recall style than any other s t y l e . The r e l a t i ve
proportions of the distributions however differed
with the College of Agriculture students exhibit
i ng greater proportion of Application and Questioning
styles than SBS/ABU students,
2. Teachers can influence their students cognitive
s t y l e s , for the students cognitive styles tend
to correlate significantly with the teachers
perception of their students cognitive s t y l e s.
3. It is possible to shift students cognitive styles
from predominantly recall to a more even d i s t r i but-ion
of cognitive style on the 4 - mode model of
Heath using an instructional strategy that emphasizes
questioning.
4. Between the c r i t e r i o n measures, the Heaths model
proved to be more consistent than the D..I.T, in
demonstrating a shift in cognitive style from Recall
to Questioning.
Description
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY"
IN
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
(SCIENCE)
FACULTY OF EDUCATION,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA,
1987
Keywords
EFFECTS,, MODES,, PRESENTATION,, STABILITY,, CHEMISTRY,, STUDENTS,, COGNITIVE,, STYLES