COGNITVE PREFERENCES IN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

Abstract

The purpose of the present experiment is to examine the relation of the cognitive preferences to the behavior exhibited by high school students.
Four cognitive preferences were chosen in high school physics;
1) memory of specific facts or terms, 2) practical appligation, 3) critical questioning of information, and 4) identification of a fundamental principle.
In the present experiment, The Cognitive Preference Test developed by Heath (1964) was used to measure the cognitive preferences.
The results obtained from Experiment 1 were as follows.
1) There is difference in cognitive preference between the students who like Physics and Cbemistry and the students who like other subjects. Those who like Mathematics, Social Studies, Art and Music, Homemaking, and Physical Exercise have a stronger preference for the “memory of specific facts and terms”, and less preference for the “critical questioning of information” than the students who like Physics and Chemistry. The significant difference in preference for “identification of a fundamental principle” can be seen between the students who like Physics and Chemistry and the students who like Homemaking and Physical Exercise.
2) The scientific interest type group has less preference for “memory of specific facts.and terms” and stronger perference for “critical, questioning of information” and “identification of fundamental principle” than non- scientific interest type group.
In Experiment 2, the correlation of cognitive preferences with the achievement types was examined. In order to test the achievement types, the four achievement tests corresponding to four cognitive preference were made.
The Cognitive Preference Test, four achievement tests, and LIS Reasoning Test were administered to 183 students (age, 17).
Almost all students demonstrated 70 (in T score) on LIS Reasoning Test. So the possibility that difference in cognitive preferences and in achievement types can be accounted for by difference in reasoning ability on intelligence was discounted.
Though the perfect correlations could not be seen between Cognitive Preferences and Achievement Types, at least as to Cognitive Preferences for Memory and for Principle it can be concluded that students tend to make good scores on the achievement type corresponding to their cognitive preference and do not make good scores on the achievement type which does not fit their cognitive preference.
When students are allowed to make any response they like, the responces exhibited by students correspond rather clearly to the cognitive preferences they have.