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AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF COGNITIVE STYLE AS A
VEHICLE FOR PERSONALIZING THE INSTRUCTION
OF VOCATIONAL STUDENTS WITHIN A

SELECTED OCCUPATIONAL CURRICULUM

By

Carl C. Monroe

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfiilment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum

1979

ABSTRACT

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF COGNITIVE STYLE AS A
VEHICLE FOR PERSONALIZING THE INSTRUCTION
OF VOCATIONAL STUDENTS WITHIN A

SELECTED OCCUPATIONAL CURRICULUM

By

Carl C. Monroe

One of the most significant problems in American education is
the need to deal with individual differences of students. Many voca-
tional schools are attempting to do this with increased use of media,
student aids, tutorial programs, and a host of other devices. They
are using what might more aptly be called the shotgun approach and hope
that they will accomplish the most good. The use of cognitive style
mapping would enable these approaches to be considerably more directed.
This study was not specifically designed as a hypothesis-testing
effort, but was intended to provide answers to questions that may
result in hypotheses for future studies.

The motivating concern of this study was the identification
of cognitive styles of students who fit into certain subsets of voca-
tional student achievement. Another concern was to determine what
relationships might exist between vocational student achievement sub-
sets and the collective cognitive styles associated with them. The

six objectives of the study were:

Carl C. Monroe

l. To identify the cognitive styles of the students in the
Engineering Design class at the Southwest Oakland Voca-
tional Center in Nixom, Michigan.

2. To identify the variables that exist between the cognitive
style of the vocational student and the instructional mode,
to obtain clues for personalizing instruction.

3. To determine if it is possible to identify a collective
cognitive style and to see if there is a relationship
between categories of vocational students' achievement and
the associated collective cognitive style.

4. To discern whether there is a relationship between the
number of qualitative codes and success in the Engineering
Design class.

5. To determine how well a vocational student understands
his/her own cognitive style.

6. To verify empirically the validity of the vocational
students' cognitive style maps.

The two classes of the Engineering Design and Illustration
program (40 students) from the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education
Center served as the subjects for the study.

The researcher used two instruments to procure data to analyze
the variables. These instruments were: Oakland Intermediate School
District's Prescriptive Analysis for Curriculum Evaluation and Review
(PACER) and Oakland Community College's Cognitive Style Interest Inven-
tory (CSII). The PACER test was used to measure vocational student

achievement. The C511 was used to measure preferred learning styles

Carl C. Monroe

of the students. This instrument produces, through computer scoring,

a cognitive style map of each individual's learning style.

To determine the possible relationships between vocational

student achievement and the collective cognitive styles associated with

them, the following approach was used.

I.

5.

Students were grouped by subsets into low, high, and middle
quartiles.

The cognitive style elements for each subset of student
achievement were tallied.

The percentage of occurrence was calculated using the
frequency of occurrence of each element.

Frequency charts of major and minor cognitive style ele-
ments were constructed for each subset of student
achievement.

Profiles of similarity were constructed.

The following conclusions were drawn:

l.

The students showed a preference for individual cultural
determinants.

The greater the deviation of the student's elements from
the elements of the instructional mode, the less likely
the student will be to achieve any success with that
particular instructional mode.

It is possible to identify collective cognitive style

profiles of vocational students.

Some recommendations for further study, stated in the form of

hypotheses, are:

Carl C. Monroe

l. A successful instructional mode will have a small number
of variances between the cognitive style elements of the
student and the format of style elements in the instruc-
tional mode.

2. Successful vocational students can be identified by cer-
tain theoretical symbolic orientation code elements in

their cognitive style.

DEDICATION
TO JOY ANN

My Wife and Love.

It was her encouragement that lit the
passageway for the attainment of this
degree. And it is our life together
that makes it all of value. With all

my love I say:

So may thy destiny be mine.

Together we, resplendent--

Twin stars revolving, I on thee
eternally attendant

In truth and loyal steadfastness,

Our virtue still ascendant--

Thou art my fate, I am thy mate.*

*The closing lines of "Wedded," by Mary C. Monroe.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This dissertation is the tangible outcome of four years of
effort that at times have been leisurely, but for the most part have
been organized and directed. In emerging from these four years, I
am indebted to many friends, colleagues, and mentors.

A major debt is to Dr. George W. Ferns, who falls into all
three of the above categories; as advisor, chairman of my committee,
and teacher he has given his continuous support and constructive
criticism, and both guided and inspired me. Sincere thanks are also
expressed to the other members of my committee--Dr. Harrison Gardner,
Secondary Education and Curriculum; Dr. Eldon R. Nonnamaker, Vice-
President for Student Affairs and Services; and Dr. Katherine E.
White, Assistant Vice-President for Student Affairs and Services--for
their guidance of my studies at Michigan State University. As a team
they were excellent; as individuals they are superb.

In appreciation, I wish to thank John Xenos, Principal of the
Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center, for his part in making
it possible to conduct the study at the Center. I also thank the stu-
dents in the Engineering Design and Illustration class for their
cooperation.

One person who deserves special credit in many ways is

James V. Orr of Oakland Community College for his help in formulating

this dissertation when Dr. Joe Hill, then President of Oakland Com-
munity College, could no longer carry on.

To Dr. Robert S. Kramp, Director of Library Services at
Oakland Intermediate School District, I owe special thanks. His
thoughtfulness and help during the research phase of the project
transformed a work situation of extreme pressure for both of us into
a productive and enjoyable experience. If it were not for him, my
four years would probably have extended into a fifth year.

Many others, both friends and family, gave me encouragement
and assistance. 11) all of these people I would like to express my
thanks.

The final and most important acknowledgment goes, of course,
to my wife and partner, Joy Ann. Without her continued support,
encouragement, and sacrifice this dissertation would not have been

possible.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF TABLES ........................ vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ..................... viii
LIST OF SYMBOLS ........................ x
Chapter
1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ............... 1
Introduction .................... 1
Background ..................... 3
Purpose of the Study ................ 7
General Questions to Be Answered .......... 9
Need for the Study ................. 9
Methodology of the Study .............. l2
Basic Assumptions .................. l3
Limitations of the Study .............. l4
The Educational Sciences .............. 14
Definitions of Key Terms .............. 18
Overview ...................... 34
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............. 38
Introduction .................... 38
Vocational Choice .................. 38
Trait-Factor Theory ................ 39
Sociology and Career Choice ............ 4O
Self-Concept Theory ................ 42
Cognition ...................... 52
Human Variability .................. 6l
Cognitive Style ................... 62
Educational Sciences ................ 67
Modes of Instruction ................ 73
Personalized Instruction .............. 74
Summary ....................... 79
III. DESIGN OF THE STUDY .................. 88
Introduction ..... ‘ ............... 88
Restatement of Objectives .............. 88

Chapter Page

Setting, Program, and Sample ............ 89
Setting ...................... 89
Program ...................... 92
Sample ...................... 92
Sample Size Adequacy ............... 93
Data Collection ................... 94
Instrumentation .................. 94
Cognitive Style Interest Inventory ........ 97
Mechanics of Gathering Data ............ lOl
Treatment of the Data ................ l02
Collective Cognitive Style Profiles ........ l03
Methodology Used in Achieving Objectives ...... l03
Summary ....................... l08
IV. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ................. lll
Introduction .................... lll
Coding of Individuals ................ llZ
Findings Concerning Cognitive Style Profiles . . . . ll2
Measures of Profile Similarity .......... 133
Clues for Personalizing Instruction ......... l54
Summary ....................... 156
V. SUMMARY AND SYNTHESIS ................. l58
Summary ....................... 158
Conclusions ..................... l60
Implications and Clues for Personalizing
Instruction .................... l69
Limitations ..................... l72
Recommendations for Further Study .......... l73
APPENDICES .......................... 178
A. ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEETS ........... l79
B. COGNITIVE STYLE MAPPING ................ 220
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................... 224

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
1. Ranking of Students, Based on Score from Prescriptive
Analysis for Curriculum Evaluation and Review (PACER)
Test ......................... 113
2. Cognitive Style Maps of Engineering Design Students . . 116

3. Frequency of Occurrence of Major and Minor Cognitive
Traits in All Four Quartiles of the PACER Test . . . . 131

4. Percentage of Occurrence of Major, Minor, and
Negligible Cognitive Traits in the Total CSII Test . . 132

5. Concentration of Major and Minor Orientation of
Cognitive Traits in All Four Quartiles of the

PACER Test ...................... 134
6. Collective Cognitive Style Profiles .......... 135
7. Students' Cognitive Style Map Selection ........ 153

vii

Figure

Chart

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Consistent and Inconsistent Codes ...........

The Attractiveness of the Model Environments to

Different Personality Types .............

General Format for the Instructional Mode Style

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER First-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Second-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER First-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Second-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER First-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Third-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER First-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Third-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER First-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER First Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

viii

Page

105

138

139

140

141

142

143

 

10.

11.

12.

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER Second-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Third-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER Second-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Third-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER Second-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER Second-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Major Cognitive Traits
of PACER Third Quartile Students and Orientation of
Major Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

Profile Score of Orientation of Minor Cognitive Traits
of PACER Third-Quartile Students and Orientation of
Minor Cognitive Traits of PACER Fourth-Quartile

Students .......................

ix

Page

144

145

146

147

148

149

Symbolic Mediation

 

T(AL)
T(AQ)
T(VL)
T(VQ)
Q(A)
Q(V)
Q(P)
Q(CEM)
Q(CES)
Q(CET)
Q(CH)
Q(CK)
Q(CKH)
Q(CP)
Q(CS)
Q(CT)
Q(CTM)

Cultural Determinant

 

I
A
F

Modalities of Inference

LIST OF

Theoretical
Theoretical
Theoretical
Theoretical
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative
Qualitative

SYMBOLS

Auditory Linquistics
Auditory Quantitative
Visual Linguistics
Visual Quantitative
Auditory

Visual
Proprioceptive

Code Empathetic‘
Code Esthetic

Code Ethic

Code Histrionic

Code Kinesics

Code Kinesthetics
Code Proxemics

Code Synnoetics

Code Transactional
Code Temporal

Individuality

Associates
Family

Magnitude
Difference

Relationship

Appraisal
Deductive

 

CHAPTER I

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Introduction

 

For the past century and a half, America has struggled to
provide free public education for its young people. Quantitative
considerations have been given the primary attention of society in
its quest to bring to fruition America's dream of a fully educated
constituency. For many years America has sought equal educational
opportunities for all and has worked to adapt our schools to meet
human needs, clarify values, and enlighten social realities in a
diverse society. Currently, the chief concern has been to assure
apprOpriate dissemination of education to each of America's youths.
Qualitative considerations have now achieved a preeminent position in
the allocation of educational pedagogy.

Despite the recognition afforded the improvement of the quality
of education for the individual student by educators and politicians,
there still exists a large degree of disparity over the implementation
of qualitative educational programs for all students. The literature
is replete with statements from various societal areas that indicate
basic dissatisfaction with the public school system. It is both a
truism and a crisis of significant proportion that our schools are

apparently not credible.

Broudy speculated that:
The pressure for formal accountability for “results,"
the resistance to tax levies and bond referenda, the flight
of pupils to private schools, the increase in mandated pro-
grams--a11 are symptoms of a diminished credibility in the
public schools.1
Goodlad stressed that dissatisfaction with the schools is not
a new phenomenon.2 He also stated that dissatisfaction with the
schools was so widespread that it drew serious attention to the idea
of deschooling society. Although Goodlad did not mention Illich, who

wrote the book Deschooling Society, he was, in all probability, refer-

 

ring to Illich's concepts.3

The problem with present educational programs is not so much
that they are not good, right, or effective, but that they are incom-
plete, fragmented, and uncoordinated. America's schools are, in large
part, the reflection of tradition and the needs of vested-interest
groups. Woodring explained that part of this problem has come about
because the educational philoSOphy of the school "vacillates," and it
does so because parents are confused about what they want.4 This is
reflected in the decisions of school boards. It is apparent that the
opportunity to improve education is always present, whether it is a
constant problem or a constant challenge. Perkins believed that the
problems of education and the growing disillusionment of the public
can be attributed largely to the fact that schools have too often
sought to force students into narrow academic molds without regard to
their abilities, interests, or even their forthcoming roles in adult

life.5 He also believed that, at the same time, the general public

has awakened to the potential of vocational education to motivate and
train students of all ages and abilities.

Traditionally, vocational education has been concerned with
preparing the individual for a specific occupation identified with a
specific industry. The concept of developing salable skills for an
existing labor market has been basic to the vocational education
philosophy. Vocational education can, indeed, contribute to guiding
students into occupational areas that will enhance their life roles
and break the academic molds that restrict individual growth and

development.

Background

In her book Accent on Learning, Cross stressed that with the

 

movement toward educational Opportunity came the need to individual-

6 The educational establishment was faced with a

ize education.
diverse constituency, and, to meet the demands of society, many edu-
cators envisioned individualized instruction as the panacea for their
problems.

The mobility of the American population has also created the
necessity for individualizing or personalizing instruction. In his
book, Future Shock, Toffler directed attention to the multiplicity of

problems related to the impermanence or transience of society today.7

 

Not only is there the social shock of geographical migration, but there
is also the internal shock of individuals in a constant state of
impermanence. This internal or psychological shock is particularly

devastating to today's youths. Society has not only created a

geographically mobile population, but it has added the problems of
a rapidly changing society based on the "economics of transience."8
Yet another force has contributed to the necessity of per-
sonalizing education. Years ago, the Russians launched a space pro-
gram that caused considerable concern about the scientific prowess of
the American culture. The public demanded that our schools become

more scientific, teach more mathematics, and indirectly become more

elitist by encouraging the gifted student. In The Identification

 

of the Gifted and Talented, Martinson stated that this importance to

 

society is largely due to the accomplishments of its most capable
members; the society that fails to nurture the talents of gifted youths
fails in its obligations to them and itself.9

However, in a democratic society, the idea of one of its insti-
tutions becoming elitist strikes a discordant note. The United States
has always affirmed that every individual should be afforded the oppor-
tunity to develop to his/her fullest potential. Therefore, in addition
to nurturing the gifted without offending the average, educational
institutions must help students who have special problems. Many con-
structs have to be considered and dealt with effectively: mentally
retarded students, the learning disabled, and "mainstreaming,"10 to
mention just a few. These dichotomous extremes exemplify the extent
of the problem with which educational institutions have to deal in
effecting a democratic structure within society.

Individualizing or personalizing instruction for all students

is apparently a solution to the dilemma of either applying dispropor-

tionate amounts of pedagogy to students to optimize their potential

or subscribing to the principles of a democratic society that innately
feels treating all students equally would mean giving them all the
same type of education. Individualized instruction is not synonymous
with "self-study" or "individual study units." Rather, it refers to

a method of course organization in which each pupil works individually
on an assignment according to his/her interests, needs, and abilities,
and proceeds through it at his/her own pace. The student is mainly
responsible for his/her own learning. During class time, the teacher
is available to answer questions and provide needed assistance, which
may be in the form of lecturing, demonstrating, or leading small- or
large group discussions. The subject matter may be learned through
textbooks, individual study units, or teacher-assigned projects, with
the help of teaching machines, computers, slides, film transparencies,
charts, audio and/or video tapes, laboratory, or on-the-job work
experiences.

Although the personalization of instruction is an obvious
force that contends with the heterogeneity of today's diverse society,
educators still do not sufficiently stress learning processes and
styles of learning, apparently preferring motivational categories
instead. In his article, "Students' Learning Styles," Riessman wrote,
“The task of the educator is to try to determine how the strengths of
the individual's learning style can be utilized and the weaknesses
reduced or controlled."]]

The question that presents itself now is whether the learning
behavior of individual students can be studied effectively. Can indi-

vidual or group behavior effectively be studied? Is there an

apprOpriate science of education? Conant sought answers to these

questions in his book, The Education of American Teachers. He stated

 

that it is actually a matter of whether the natural sciences are funda-

12

mentally different from the social sciences. If, indeed, there is

no fundamental difference between the natural and social sciences, as
Conant argued, then the establishment of a conceptual framework for
the applied field of education is important as a natural construct
that could have a significant influence on the education of today's
students. It is also reasonable to assume that a single, all-
embracing science of education did not exist at the time Conant wrote
his book. He went on to state:

Teachers, like physicians, think in terms of predictive
generalizations as well as arguments derived from general
principles. Some people would like to combine these two
modes of thought and speak of a single, all-embracing science
of education. The question is whether it is useful to try to
cover with the word "science" a vast field of human activity
directed toward practical ends. I have come to the conclu-
sion that it is not. Perhaps it is only a question of ter-
minology. However, I prefer not to speak of the science of
engineering but of the engineering sciences. I doubt that
there is or ever will be a science of medicine, yet I am
sure enormous strides forward have been made in the medical
sciences. Therefore, I think it would be better to discuss
the academic disciplines, that base relevance for the labors
of the teacher than to try to talk in terms of a developing
science of education. In other words, I shall examine aca-
demic disciplines which might be called educational sciences
or educational disciplineg rather than the science or the
discipline of education.

Before developing a framework of the educational sciences, it
is important to consider the purpose, objectives, and other aspects
of the present study. The topic of the educational sciences is
discussed just before the section defining key terms used in the

dissertation.

Purpose of the Study
A broad range of differences in cognitive manipulation has
been demonstrated in research by Thurston, Guilford and others,
which indicates that over one hundred cognitive styles exist.14
Psychologists such as Kagan, Moss, and Sigel have referred to this

range of differences in cognition as cognitive style.15

Cognitive
style is wholistic in focus; it includes notions of personality,
intelligence, attitude, perception, and learning.

With mandates from the Michigan State Department of Education
pertaining to setting goals and implementing competency-based educa-
tion, as well as the impetus from other areas such as special needs
legislation, it has become all the more apparent that a systematized
method of personalizing vocational education is needed. Goodlad
called attention to the unavoidable need to diagnose the deficiencies

‘6 "Individualized instruction, Holtzman

of each individual learner.
argues, might serve both the social and economic needs, the former
need by expanding and diversifying program options to better match
the diversity and pluralism of the student population."17

Cognitive style mapping, as used in the educational sciences,
has the potential to become an effective instrument to facilitate the
personalization of vocational education and, therefore, merits the
attention of a thoughtful study.

One of the predominant purposes that motivated this study was
to identify cognitive styles of students who fit into certain subsets

of vocational student achievement. A second purpose was to determine

what possible relationships, if any, might exist between vocational
student achievement subsets and the collective cognitive styles
associated with them. The major objectives of the study were as
follows:

1. To identify the cognitive styles of the students in the
Engineering Design class at the Southwest Oakland Voca-
tional Center in Wixom, Michigan.

2. To identify the variables that exist between the cognitive
style of the vocational student and the instructional
mode, to obtain clues for personalizing instruction.

3. To determine if it is possible to identify a collective
cognitive style and to see if there is a relationship
between categories of vocational students' achievement
and the associated collective cognitive style.

4. To discern whether there is a relationship between the
number of qualitative codes and success in the Engineering
Design class.

5. To determine how well a vocational student understands
his/her own cognitive style.

6. To verify empirically the validity of the vocational
students' cognitive style maps.

As a result of investigating the areas identified in the pre-

ceding objectives, the writer hopes to arrive at some recommendations
that will contribute to the personalizing of instruction for voca-

tional education students.

General Questions to Be Answered

The present study was exploratory in nature; it was ngt

designed to test hypotheses. Instead, to realize the purposes of

the project, answers to the questions listed in the following para-

graph were sought.

For the students in the Engineering Design class at the

Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center, and in terms of avail-

able data:
1.
2.

What is the nature of the students' cognitive styles?
What variables exist between the cognitive style of the
vocational student and the instructional mode?

Is it possible to identify a relationship, if any,
between vocational student achievement and collective
cognitive style associated with categories of achieve-
ment?

What relationship exists between the number of qualitative
codes and success in the Engineering Design program?

How well does the vocational student understand his/her
own cognitive style?

Can the cognitive style map of the vocational student be

empirically verified?

Need for the Study

 

If cognitive styles can be identified with categories of

vocational student achievement, such an identification could have

important implications for vocational education. For instance, the

10

identification of cognitive styles could be used to predict the final

grade that vocational students are apt to earn in their courses.
According to Nunney, augmentation of cognitive styles is not

only well accepted but necessary if the student is to achieve his/her

maximum growth.18

Findings from the present study might generate
hypotheses for experimental studies that could be used to augment and
modify vocational styles so as to prepare vocational students for the
optimal enjoyment of their selected life roles and occupations.
Counselors, teachers, or administrators could prescribe experiences
that might promote the student's success, given his elements of "style"
and how they might become associated with success in the study of
various occupational choices.

Vocational student preparation programs can be more effec-
tive than they currently are if it is possible to identify an indi-
vidual's cognitive style in terms of the educational sciences and
relate the individual's style to specific occupational areas.

The sociological and technological problems of the transient
society referred to earlier also indicate the necessity of matching
learning styles and instructional techniques for optimal execution of
vocational tasks.

The United States is currently engaged in an economic struggle
with competing countries. A large portion of the population has
generally accepted the necessity of the principle of a maintenance
population (zero growth) as opposed to the antiquated ideas of an ever-
increasing population and economy. A maintenance population does not

have to be stagnant; however, it cannot afford the inefficiency that

11

a growth population can. Because of the necessity of economizing,
it must be more efficient in its economic production. Vocational
education can contribute to the country's efficiency by furnishing
effective workers with the desire to take a position of productivity
alongside their fellow Americans.

Matching an individual's style of learning with a style-
specific instructional package promises economic as well as personal
gains for the individual student. These implications are of increas-
ing importance for the personalization of vocational education in all
fields, as well as the particular applied field of engineering design.

The relationship between cognitive styles and categories of
student achievement can also be used to examine student performance
in a variety of dimensions. In particular, cognitive styles could be
used to prescribe specific programs to enhance a student's probability
of success in a given occupational area.

Cognitive style mapping is of particular importance for improv-
ing accountability, particularly in the vocational school setting.
Mapping produces a Cartesian product of the individual's style that
can be used for specific personalization programs. It reduces the
necessity of using a teacher or administrator's opinion of a student's
needs and all the concomitant legal problems with which that approach
is fraught. Carried out under the approach of cognitive style mapping,
curriculum development should be more objective and considerate of the
individual.

The information from this study could lead to subsequent

studies of a hypothesis-testing nature or further hypothesis-generating

12

character. Therefore, as part of the conclusions, the writer
generates and presents a series of possible hypotheses for considera-
tion by future researchers in vocational education.

Finally, the study was intended to add to the body of infor-
mation and knowledge about the educational sciences as the universe
of discourse for the educational establishment and particularly voca-

tional education.

Methodology of the Study

 

This study was considered exploratory because it was directed
at seeking trends and defining information concerned with various
approaches to the problem of individual differences of students that
could lead to the generation of hypotheses to be studied in subsequent
research undertakings. The writer was concerned with two major
topics: (1) the assessment of the cognitive styles of vocational stu-
dents who fit into specific subsets of vocational student achievement
and (2) the relationships that might exist between vocational student
achievement and the students' collective cognitive styles.

The instruments used to gather the necessary data were
(1) Oakland Intermediate School District's Prescriptive Analysis
for Curriculum Evaluation and Review (PACER) and (2) Oakland Commu-
nity College's Cognitive Style Interest Inventory (CSII). These

instruments were administered at the Southwest Oakland Vocational

Education Center in Wixom, Michigan. The results of these tests were

sent to the respective institutions for computer scoring.

13

To answer the questions listed in the previous section and

to furnish insights into the development of new questions, the

researcher devised cognitive style profiles and collective cognitive

style profiles. As an additional aid in answering the research ques-

tions, an anecdotal data log was kept and is included in the appendix.

Basic Assumptions

It was assumed that:

1.

Tests administered to the subjects of this study produced
certain information that could be interpreted in terms
of the subjects' symbolic orientations, modes of percep-
tion, and modalities of inference.

All subjects were able to read and understand the tests
administered.

The subjects gave frank and unbiased replies to the
instruments.

A combined class of 40 students was adequate for a study
intended to lead to hypothesis generating or testing.
The Cognitive Style Interest Inventory (CSII) was an
appropriate tool to use in accomplishing the purposes of
the study.

The Prescriptive Analysis for Curriculum Evaluation and
Review (PACER) developed by Oakland Intermediate School
District was an appropriate tool to use in accomplishing

the purposes of the study.

The
the study:
1.

14

The reliability and validity of the instruments used

were sufficient for meeting the purposes of the study.

Limitations of the Study

following factors were considered to be limitations of

The population of the study was limited to vocational
students in the Engineering Design and Illustration class
at the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center.
Financial limitations made it impossible to evaluate all
the vocational students at the Center.

A study focusing on a selected occupational curriculum
will not be as informative as a longitudinal study.
Cognitive style was examined in the context of the
educational sciences and not in the more general context
of other available psychological literature.

The time factor was not constant, because students
attended classes at the Center during two time blocks,

either in the morning or in the afternoon.

Developed in the following section is a conceptual framework

that envelops an individual's cognitive mode, from which the educa-

tional sciences were to be expressed.

The Educational Sciences

The educational sciences are not oriented specifically to

vocational education or any other field of expertise. Their useful-

ness, particularly in the prescriptive stage, will readily become

 

15

evident in later chapters. The educational sciences are a humanistic

approach to a form of the educational sciences that Conant alluded
to, though not the "new expert" to whom Krech referred in the fol-
lowing passage:

There will be a great change made in the first and fore-
most and continuing business of society: the education and
training of the young. The development of the mind of the
child will come to rest in the knowledge and skills of the
biochemist, the pharmacologist, and neurologist, and psycholo-
gist, and educator. And there will be a TEN expert abroad in
the land--the psychoneurobiochemeducator.

As absurd as this omnifarious "new expert" whom Krech referred to
may sound, advances have been made in developing a more scientific
but nonetheless humanistic framework for education.

The most notable efforts and advances in providing a concep-

tual framework and scientific language for the applied field of knowl-

edge called education have been made by the American Educational
Sciences Association and its founder, the late Joseph Hill. Hill's
rationale for the development of the educational sciences was:

Without a framework and “language", the vast field of
human activity called "education" does not readily lend itself
to meaningful description or definition. At the present time,
the universe of discourse associated with education lacks pre-
cision beyond that found at the levels of common sense and
daily journalism. The difficulty with such language is not
that it fails to provide a form of communication but that the
possibilities of misinterpretation and misunderstanding are
great and the probability of regatively precise discrimina-
tions and predictions is small.

Other writers have referred to this lack of clarity in educa-

tion. Van Dalen concurred with Hill when he wrote:

Many educational terms do not have clearly assigned and
commonly understood meanings; when words such as "democracy",
"education", "curriculum", and "discipline" are used by

16

different workers in the field, they may stand for slightly
or radically different things. In contrast, the technical
terms in the exact sciences such as meter, ampere, ligat
year, and calorie are instruments of great exactitude.

The exact sciences Van Dalen mentioned are what Hill

referred to in the following statement as "fundamental disciplines":

Fundamental disciplines are bodies of knowledge generated
by communities of scholars that produce pure and distinctive
forms of information about phenomena which they study. Biology,
history, art, psychologya and mathematics are examples of fun-
damental disciplines. Complementing the fundamental disciplines
are the applied or derivative fields of knowledge. These bodies
of information are generated by practitioners who deal with
practical considerations of the human condition. Medicine,
pharmacy, engineering, and law are examples of applied fields
of knowledge.22

Education is an applied or derivative field and not a funda-

mental discipline. The educational sciences manifest an attempt to
specify a conceptual framework for education that is accorded a pre-
cision and specificity found in other applied fields. According to
Hill:

With the development of the Educational Sciences, the
solutions of problems and explanations of phenomena are facili-
tated, and educational problems accruing to inadequate commu-
nication, misinterpretatign of information, and fragmentation
of effort are alleviated. 3

There are now seven educational sciences. Each of these

bodies of information includes its own facutal description, concep-
tualizations, principles, and generalizations, and is properly con-
sidered a separate science. According to Hill, these seven sciences

are:

—l
0

Symbols and their meanings (Symbologosics).

2. Cultural determinants of the meanings of symbols
(Determinants).

3. Modalities of inference (Inferensics).

17

Biochemical and electrophysiological aspects of memory
concern.

Cognitive styles of individuals.

Teaching styles, administration styles, counseling styles,
and student styles.

Systemic analysis decision-making.24

NOIU'I-h-

The conceptual framework of the educational sciences is
grounded in the following four assumptions:

Education is the process of searching for meaning.
Thought is different from language.

Man is a social creature with a capacity for deriving
meaning out of his environment and personal experiences.
Not content with biological satisfactions alone, man
uses symbols in his search for meaning.

«5 (AN-d

This study was concerned with aspects of all seven of the
sciences, except for the fourth and the seventh. The emphasis was
on the fifth--cognitive style of individuals. Hill and Setz described
cognitive style as follows:

Cognitive style is a unique concept for describing an

individual's mode of behavior in searching for meaning. It

is identified by an individual's disposition to use certain
types of symbolic forms versus others: the derivations of
meaning of symbols from roles the individual has found most
satisfying; the manner in which he reasons. A map of an indi-
vidual's cognitive style provides meaning from his environment
based upon his symbolic orientations, personal experiences,
and ways of reasoning, i.e., drawing conclusions. 5

Cognitive style is a unification of the following four
sciences: (1) symbols and their meanings; (2) cultural determinants
of the meanings of symbols; (3) modalities of inference; and (4)
electrophysiological and biochemical aspects of memory. The last
science, the electrophysiological and biochemical aspects of memory,
was developed most recently and is still being verified. Eaton

developed a model based on educational memory in her investigation

18

entitled "A Model for Educational Cognitive Style Based Upon a Paradigm

for Psychohistorical Inquiry, With Emphasis on Educational Memory."27

Hill conceptualized cognitive style in terms of the educa-
tional sciences:

The concept of cognitive style employed as an educational
science is somewhat different from those described and defined
in the discipline of psychology. The construct of cognitive
style as defined in terms of the educational sciences is a
Cartesian product, G, composed of three sets, S, E, and H,
where S denotes the set of elements defining symbolic orienta-
tions, E indicates the set of cultural determinants of the
meaning of symbols, and H designates the set of modalities of
inference.28

 

 

 

An individual's strength in each of the three sets encompassing
educational cognitive style is determined as follows:

1. If the percentile rank of an individual's score in a given
element is in the spread of values ranging from the fiftieth
through the ninety-ninth percentile (inclusively) of a popu-
lation of these scores, the individual is assigned a major
orientation, written as a capital letter.

2. If the percentile rank of an individual's score in a given
element is in the spread of values ranging from the twenty-
sixth through the forty-ninth percentile (inclusively) of
a population of these scores, the individual is assigned a
minor orientation, written as a small letter.

3. If the percentile rank of an individual's score in a given
element is in the spread of values ranging from the zero
percentile through the twenty-fifth percentile (inclu-
sively) of a population of these scores, then the individual
is assigned neither a major nor a minor orientation, and the
element is not entered as a part of the cognitive style.29

Definitions of Key Terms
The articulation of the fundamental disciplines, such as
mathematics or physics, is possible because of the exactitude of
their language. It is, therefore, important to note that describing

the language of the educational sciences required redefining concepts

from the fundamental disciplines. Terminology from the writings of

19

scholars in the American Educational Sciences Association, most notably
its founder, Joseph Hill, has produced these redefinitions. It is
extremely important that all terminology resulting from the study of
the educational sciences have identical meanings to all concerned.

Van Dalen noted that "When a researcher uses a word that is
familiar but whose meaning is not a matter of universal agreement, he

30 As the context in

stipulates the sense in which he will use it."

which terminology is employed elicits explicit definitions for pre-

cise understanding, an attempt was made to employ this concept in the

derivation of terms and meanings presented herein. Paraphrasing any

of the concepts or definitions could be detrimental to comprehension

and inhibit understanding. To prevent misconceptions and to improve

the understanding of the educational sciences, the concepts and defini-

tions presented here are essentially those proposed by Hill and others

in publications of the American Educational Sciences Association.3]
Applied fields are composed of terms and methods of inquiry

borrowed from the fundamental disciplines. Their practitioners are

not concerned with producing pure and distinctive forms of informa-

tion. In this context, the applied fields are composed of both sci-

ences and arts that are designed to explain phenomena and solve problems

in the practical aspects of the human situation. For example, the

applied field of knowledge called medicine is composed of the medi-

cal sciences and the medical arts; engineering is composed of the

engineering sciences and the engineering arts.

A cognitive style mag provides a picture of the diverse ways

 

in which an individual derives meaning. Results of a battery of

20

tests and inventories are processed through a computer system to
produce a printout in the form of a Cartesian product.

Collective cognitive style is the composite style that is
expressed by a particular quartile determined by the PACER test.

Contextualism enters into the testing framework of cognitive

 

style mapping in much the same way a physical diagnosis does in the
medical field. For example, a 55-year-old man is described by his
doctor as being in good health in comparison to the norms of other
55-year-old men and in the context of the activities usually under-
taken by that population. That person's physical evaluation would
not be the same if his condition were compared to the "good health"
label given to a 19-to-20-year-old man, who could very easily engage
in such activities as skiing, handball, or tennis. In that "con-
textualism," the 55-year-old man could not be described as being in
as good health.

Derivative fields of knowledge are bodies of information

 

generated by practitioners who deal with practical considerations of
the human condition. Medicine, pharmacy, engineering, and law are
examples. The derivative fields are composed of terms and methods
of inquiry borrowed from the fundamental disciplines and other cog-
nate fields.

Empirical mappigg is the process of augmenting the findings

 

of the computer-derived cognitive style map of an individual. This
is done by teacher, parentg or counselor observation of the student
who is being mapped. The experiences of each observer may serve to

produce changes in the mathematical map and give a more exact diagnosis

21

of the strengths or weaknesses of the student within the context of
the examination.

Fundamental disciplines are bodies of knowledge generated by

 

communities of scholars who produce pure and distinctive forms of
information about phenomena they study, such as biology, history,
art, and psychology.

Major orientation is noted by capital letters, and refers to

 

an element of a cognitive style map that occurs in the 50th to 99th
percentile range of a distribution of that element at a given develop-
mental level.

Mathematical mapping is the process of deriving information

 

from the administration of standardized test batteries and inven-
tories and producing a computerized cognitive map. The data indicated
on the map can be analyzed in the same manner as a physician analyzes
the results of x-rays, blood tests, urine analysis, temperature, and
other standard medical tests. These data are not conclusive in deter-
mining the ailment; rather, the information must be reinforced or
augmented by personal observation and previous experience (empirical
mapping).

Minor orientation is identified by the insertion of a prime

 

factor (') mark that indicates an individual realized a score for
this particular element in the 26th to 49th percentile range of a
distribution of scores for that element at a given level of educa-
tional development.

Negligible orientation is a score value of a particular element

 

of a distribution of scores at a given level of educational development

22

that occurred at the 25th percentile or below. The negligibly
oriented element would not appear on the cognitive style map.

Personalized or individualized education: A student's cogni-
tive map presents a picture of the variety of styles he uses in his
education, i.e., in his search for meaning. Mapping an individual's
cognitive style enables the educator to consider the individual in
terms he might not have employed without the map. The diagnosis of
an individual's cognitive style and the modes of understanding required
by an educational task can be used to match the student to the task.
Through this approach, it is possible to prescribe educational activi-
ties that provide a better probability of successful accomplishment
by the individual than otherwise might be possible.

A set is a carefully defined collection of discrete elements;
these may be symbols, ideas, or physical objects. A set may contain
an infinite number of elements, a finite number of elements, or no
elements. The last is described as a null or empty set.

Symbolic mediation is the ability to transform the complex

 

meanings of the symbols that represent the elements of a cognitive
style map into the proper modes of instruction that are best suited

to the individual student so that he can attain success in his educa-
tional endeavors. Mediation of instruction means choosing the optimum
mix of communication vehicles, such as audio-visual equipment, pro-
grammed instruction manuals, transparencies, video tapes, and other
teaching media, so each student receives instruction according to the

interpretation of his cognitive style map.

 

 

23

A system is a defined collection of elements with their
interconnections considered over a period of time.

The remaining portion of the definitions section is organized
according to the seven educational sciences referred to earlier in
this chapter:

1. Symbols and their meanings

2. Cultural determinants of the meanings of symbols

3. Modalities of inference
Educational memory

Cognitive style of individuals

05 01 b
o o 0

Teaching styles, administrative styles, counseling
styles, and student styles

7. Systemic analysis decision-making

First Educational Science

 

Theoretical symbols present to the nervous system, and then
represent to it, something different from what those symbols are.
For example, the spoken word, "school," is an auditory sensation that
represents to the listener the physical object, school. The auditory
sensation, “school," presents to the nervous system something differ-
ent from what the symbol itself is; it is called a theoretical auditory
linguistic symbol T(AL).

There are two types of theoretical symbols, namely visual
and auditory. Each of these symbols can be divided into linguistic
and quantitative elements.

Theoretical Visual Linguistics T(VL): The ability to find

meaning from words one sees. A major orientation in this

 

 

 

 

24

area usually indicates one who reads with a better-than-

average degree of comprehension.

Theoretical Auditory Linguistics T(AL): The ability to

acquire meaning through hearing the spoken word.

Theoretical Visual Quantitative T(VQ): The ability to acquire

meaning in terms of numerical symbols, relationships, and

measurements that are seen.

Theoretical Auditory Quantitative T(AQ): The ability to find

meaning in terms of numerical symbols, relationships, and

measurements that are spoken.

Qualitative symbols present and then represent to an indi-
vidual's nervous system that which the symbols themselves are to that
individual. Meanings for qualitative symbols are derived from three
sources: (1) sensory stimuli; (2) cultural codes (games); and
(3) programmatic effects of objects that convey an almost automatic
impression of a definite series of images, scenes, events, or opera-
tions. At present, 20 qualitative symbols are included in the "sym-
bolic" set; 5 of them are associated with sensory stimuli, 5 are
programmatic in nature, and 10 are associated with cultural codes.

The following five qualitative symbols are associated with
sensory stimuli:

Qualitative Auditory Q(A): Ability to perceive meaning through

the sense of hearing. A major orientation in this area indi-

cates ability to distinguish between sounds, musical tones,

and other purely sonic sensations.

 

are:

25

‘anlitative Olfactory Q(Q): Ability to perceive meaning
through the sense of smell.

Qualitative Savory Q(S): Ability to perceive meaning through
the sense of taste. Chefs should have highly developed quali-
tative olfactory and savory abilities.

Qualitative Tactile Q(T): Ability to perceive meaning through
the sense of touch, temperature, and pain.

Qualitative Visual Q(V): Ability to perceive meaning through
sight.

The qualitative symbols that are programmatic in nature

Qualitative Proprioceptive (Fine) Q(PE): Ability to synthesize
a number of symbolic mediations into a performance that demands
monitoring of a complex task involving small or fine muscula-
ture (e.g., playing a musical instrument, typewriting), or

into an immediate awareness of a possible set of interrela—
tionships between symbolic mediations, i.e., dealing with
"signs." Although qualitative pr0prioceptive fine symbolic
intelligence is most readily observable in seemingly automatic
motor responses such as reading and playing music, certain
types of theoretical symbolic mediation also require quali-
tative pr0prioceptive activity. For example, the synthesis

of a number of symbolic mediations is evident when an indi-
vidual, upon seeing a sign of smoke, immediately interprets

it as evidence of fire and experiences an interplay of many

sensations, including smell and taste of smoke and sensation

26

of heat. In this instance, a network of previous experiences
and related associations, along with the other qualitative
aspects, produces the theoretical mediation of fire.

Qualitative Proprioceptive (Gross)yQ(PG): Ability to synthe-

 

size a number of symbolic mediations into a performance that
demands monitoring of a complex task involving large or gross
musculature (e.g., throwing a baseball, skiing).

Qualitative Proprioceptive Dextral (Fine) Q(PDF): A predomi-
nance of right-eyed, right-handed, and right-footed tendencies
(a typically right-handed persion) while synthesizing a number
of symbolic mediations into a performance demanding monitoring
of a complex task involving small or fine musculature (e.g.,
writing right-handed).

Qualitative Proprioceptive Dextral,(Gross) Q(PDG): A predomi-
nance of right-eyed, right-handed, and right-footed tendencies
(a typically right-handed person) while synthesizing a number

of symbolic mediations into a performance demanding monitoring
of a complex task involving large or gross musculature (e.g.,
throwing a baseball with the right hand).

Qualitative Proprioceptive Kinematics (Fine) Q(PKE): Ability

to synthesize a number of symbolic mediations into a performance
demanding the use of fine musculature while monitoring a complex
physical activity involving motion.

Qualitative Proprioceptive Kinematics (Gross)yQ(PKG): Ability

to synthesize a number of symbolic mediations into a performance

27

demanding the use of gross musculature while monitoring a
complex physical activity involving motion.

Qualitative Proprioceptive Sinistral (Fine) Q(PSF): A pre-
dominance of left-eyed, left-handed, and left-footed tendencies
(a typically left-handed person) while synthesizing a number
of symbolic mediations into a performance demanding monitor-
ing of a complex task involving small or fine musculature
(e.g., writing left-handed).

Qualitative Prgprioceptive Sinistral (Gross) Q(PSG): A pre-
dominance of left-eyed, left-handed, and left-footed tendencies
(a typically left-handed person) while synthesizing a number
of symbolic mediations into a performance demanding monitoring
of a complex task involving large or gross musculature (e.g.,
throwing a baseball with the left hand).

Qualitative Proprioceptive Temporal (Fine) Q(PTF): Ability

 

to synthesize a number of symbolic mediations into a per-
formance demanding the use of fine musculature while monitor-
ing a complex physical activity involving timing.

Qualitative Proprioceptive Temporal (Gross) Q(PTG): Ability
to synthesize a number of symbolic mediations into a per-
formance demanding the use of gross musculature while monitor-
ing a complex physical activity involving timing.

The remaining ten qualitative symbols associated with cultural

codes are defined as follows:

28

,Qualitative Code Empathetic Q(CEM): Sensitivity to the feel-
ings of others; ability to put oneself in another person's
place and to see things from his/her point of view.
Qualitative Code Esthetic Q(CES): Ability to enjoy the beauty
of an object or an idea. Beauty in surroundings and/or a
well-turned phrase are appreciated by a person possessing a
major strength in this area.

Qualitative Code Ethic Q(CET): Commitment to a set of values,
a group of principles, obligations, and/or duties. This com-
mitment need not imply morality. Both a priest and a crimi-
nal may be committed to a set of values, although those

values may be decidedly different.

Qualitative Code Histrionic Q(CH): Ability to exhibit a

 

deliberate behavior, or play a role to produce some particu-
lar effect on others. This type of person knows how to ful-
fill role expectations.

Qualitative Code Kinesics Q(CK): Ability to understand and

 

to communicate by nonlinguistic functions such as facial
expressions and motions of the body (e.g., smiles and ges-
tures).

Qualitative Code Kinesthetics Q(CKH): Ability to perform

 

motor skills, or effect muscular coordination according to a
recommended or acceptable form (e.g., bowling according to

form, or golfing).

29

Qualitative Code Proxemics Q(CP): Ability to judge the physi-
cal and social distance that another person would permit,
between oneself and that other person.

Qualitative Code Synnoetics Q(CS): Personal knowledge of
oneself.

Qualitative Code Transactional Q(CT): Ability to maintain a
positive communicative interaction that significantly influ-
ences the goals of the persons involved in that interaction
(e.g., salesmanship).

Qualitative Code Temporal Q(CTM): Ability to respond or
behave according to time expectations imposed on an activity

by members in the role-set associated with that activity.

Second Educational Science

 

Cultural Determinants: There are three cultural determinants
of the meaning of symbols: individuality (I), associates (A), and
family (F). Through these determinants, cultural influences are brought
to bear by the individual on the meanings of symbols. The "individual-
ity" influence is frequently reflected by a person's need to quote
definitions, or explain situations, in his/her own words. The "asso-
ciates" influence is frequently evidenced by an individual who under-
stands what is under consideration, but explains or discusses these
matters mainly in the words of associates who are involved with him/her
in the situation. The "family" determinant is frequently portrayed by
the individual who uses examples in explaining a situation or solving

a prOblem (e.g., parents, children, wife, husband, sibling, or cousin

30

are used to illustrate a situation analogous to the one under con-

sideration).

Third Educational Science

 

Modalities of inference is the third set of the Cartesian
product indicating cognitive style, i.e., the form of inference one
tends to use. It comprises the following modalities.

Magnitude (M): A formiyf"categorical reasoning" that uses

norms or categorical classifications as the basis for accept—

ing or rejecting an advanced hypothesis. People who need to
define things in order to understand them reflect this modality.

Difference (D): Suggests a tendency to reason in terms of

 

one-to-one contrasts or comparisons of selected characteris-
tics or measurements. Artists often possess this modality,
as do creative writers and musicians.

Relationship (R): Indicates the ability to synthesize a num-

 

ber of dimensions or incidents into a unified meaning, or
through analysis of a situation to discover its component
parts. Psychiatrists frequently employ the modality of rela-
tionship in psychoanalyzing a client.

Appraisal (L): The modality of inference employed by an
individual who uses all three of the modalities noted above
(M, D, and R), giving each one equal weight in his/her reason-
ing process. Individuals who employ this modality tend to
analyze, question, or, in effect, appraise what is under con-

sideration in the process of drawing a probability conclusion.

 

31

Deductive (K): Indicates deductive reasoning, or the form

 

of logical proof used in geometry or in syllogistic reasoning.

Fourth Educational Science

 

Educational memory is a Cartesian product of three sets of

 

information pertaining to: (l) the memory function, (2) concern com-
ponents (persons, processes, properties), and (3) conditions. The
elements of the condition set of information are: assimilation (AS),
accommodation (AC), attendance (AT), and repression (RS). This set
is still under development and is not yet being used in cognitive

style mapping.

Fifth Educational Science

 

Educational cognitive style combines the information of the

 

first four sciences by means of a Cartesian product of those four

sets, to provide a picture of the profiles distributed over the four
sets the individual employs in seeking meaning. These profiles reflect
the cognitive strengths of the individual and are vehicles for deter-

mining educational prescriptions to help him in the educative process.

Sixth Educational Science

Counseling,,administrative, teaching, and student styles are
represented by a Cartesian product of three sets of information per-
taining to: (l) demeanor, (2) emphasis, and (3) symbolic modes of
presentation or communication, as follows:

Counseling style: The cognitive style of indivuals involved

 

in counseling situations, as in the case of teaching and administrative

32

styles, is important but does not provide a total explanation of the
behavior of counselors. The demeanor elements of counseling style,
expressed in terms of major and minor orientations involving

(1) directive (V,v), (2) situational (U,u), or (3) nondirective (0,0)
actions are determined on the basis of the counselor's attitude
toward who should set the goals and determine the approaches to the
goals in the counseling situation. The counselor who reflects "my
goals my way," regardless of the counseling situation, is given a
major orientation in the directive element in the demeanor set. Coun-
selors who are at times directive and at other times nondirective,
depending on the situation, are accorded major orientations in the
situational element. Counselors who tend not to direct behavior,
regardless of the counseling situation, are accorded major orienta-
tions in the nondirective element. The total counseling style of an
individual is expressed in terms of profiles showing major and minor
orientations distributed over the three sets of demeanor, emphasis,
and symbolic mode.

Administrative style is defined as major and minor orienta-

 

tions in four elements of demeanor: (l) dominant (N,n), (2) adjustive
(J,j), (3) cooperative (C,c), and (4) passive custodial (X,x). Major
and minor orientations are combined in the "emphasis elements"--
persons (PN), processes (PS), and pr0perties (PT)--along with major
and minor orientations in the elements of symbolic mode (QP, RP, TP),
for profiles that portray the administrative style of an individual.
The dominant (N) administrator reflects a "my goals my way" approach;

the adjustive (J) type reflects a "my goals your way" or "your goals

 

33

my way" approach; the cooperative (C) person employs an "our goals our
way" attitude; whereas the passive custodial (X) demeanor is one
resulting from a "your goals your way" approach to administration.

Teaching style is defined as follows. The demeanor set of

 

teaching style includes three elements: (1) predominant (Pap),

(2) adjustive or "switcher" (Sap), and (3) flexible (Bap). These three
demeanor classifications can occur as either a major orientation in one
element with minor orientations in the other two, or two major orien-
tations with a minor in the remaining element. Each of these elements
is subscripted as authoritarian (a) or permissive (p). An authoritarian
type is an individual who respects the wishes and decisions of those

in superordinate positions relative to his/her own, and expects his/

her wishes and decisions to be respected when he/she assumes the super-
ordinate role. A permissive individual is one who does not exercise
this "respect," and does not expect it to be exercised by others regard-
ing his/her role. The orientations in the demeanor set are combined
with those of the emphasis and the "symbolic mode" set (qualitative
predominant [QP], reciprocity [RP], theoretical predominant [TP]) to

form profiles indicating a person's teaching style.

Seventh Educational Science

 

Systemic analysis decision-making. A system is a defined col-

 

lection of elements with their interconnections considered over a
period of time. Any aspect of education may be considered a system.
The basic purpose of systemic analysis is decision making

resulting in a choice of options available to the decision maker.

 

34

Analysis of a system is conducted in terms of determining how well
the goals of the system are being met within the constraints of its
inputs, combined with considerations of its mission and the main func-
tions (design criteria) around which it is designed.

Performance goals must be stated in terms of the tasks to
be accomplished, the conditions surrounding the tasks, and the mini-

mum performance needed for successful accomplishment of the tasks.

Overview

The need for individualizing or personalizing the instructional
setting was discussed in this chapter. The background of the study
was delineated; the purpose, objectives, and questions to be answered
were discussed; the methodology, need, assumptions, and limitations
were specified; and the establishment of the educational sciences was
discussed and explored. Last, the conceptual framework of the applied
field of education was specified, along with its attendant language
and definitions of key terms.

Chapter II is a review of related literature. Cognitive styles
and human variability are discussed, and a fuller explanation of the
educational sciences is provided.

The research design is presented in Chapter 111; included is a
full explanation of the instrumentation and data-collection procedures
employed.

Results of the study and a complete analysis of obtained data

are reported and discussed in Chapter IV.

 

35

The conclusions, implications, and recommendations are pre-

sented in detail in Chapter V.

 

36

Footnotes--Chapter I

'Harry 5. Broudy, “The Fiduciary Basis of Education: A Crisis

in Credibility," Phi Delta Kappan 59 (October 1977).
2J. I. Goodlad, The Dynamics of Educational Change: Toward
Responsive Schools (New York: McGraw-HilT} 1975).

3Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (New York: Harrow Books,

 

1970).

4Paul Woodring, "A Second Open Letter to Teachers," Phi Delta
Kappan 59 (April 1978).

5Carl D. Perkins, "Vocational Education: '76 and Beyond,"
American Vocational Journal 51 (May 1976).

6K. Patricia Cross, Accent on Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass Publisher, 1976), p. 3

 

 

7Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (New York: Bantam Books, 1971),
p. 56.

8Ibid., p. 57.

9

Ruth A. Martinson, The Identification of the Gifted and

Talented (Ventura, California: Office of the Ventura County Super-
intendent of Schools, 1974), p. 8.

10Maynard C. Reynolds, ed., Futures of Education for Excep-
tional Students: Emerging Structures (Minneapolis: U.S. Office of
Education, 1978): p. v.

HFrank Riessman, "Students' Learning Styles: How to Determine,
Strengthen, and Capitalize on Them," Today's Education 65 (September-
October 1976): 94.

12James B. Conant, The Education of American Teachers (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), p. 117.

13

 

 

 

Ibid., p. 118.

'4d. P. Guilford, Personality (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959);
Psychometric Methods (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954). See also:
G. Shouksmith, Intelligence, Creativity and Cognitive Style (New
York: John Wiley and Sons, 1970). This is an excellent summary of
this research.

 

 

 

 

37

15J. Kagan, H. A. Moss, and I. E. Sigel, "The Psychological
Significance of Styles of Conceptualization," in Basic Cognitive
Processes in Children, ed. J. F. Wright and J. Kagan. Monograph
of the Society for Research in Child Development 28 (1963): 73.

16

 

Goodlad, p. 37.

17Samuel Messick et al., eds., Individuality in Learning (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1976).

18Derek N. Nunney, Educational Cognitive Styles: A Basis for
Personalizing Instruction (Oakland Community College Press, March
1976), Pp. 1-2.

190. Krech, "Psychoneurobiochemeducation," Phi Delta Kappan
50 (1959): 370-75.

20d. E. Hill, "An Outline of the Educational Sciences. A
Proposed Framework for Education" (unpublished paper, Wayne State
University, 1968), p. 1.

210. B. Van Dalen, Understanding Educational Research (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 200.

 

 

 

22Joseph E. Hill, "The Educational Sciences" (unpublished
paper, Oakland Community College, April 1976), p. 2.

23Ibid.

24Ibid.

25Ibid.

26J. E. Hill and B. D. Setz, "Educational Sciences at Oakland
Community College" (unpublished paper, Oakland Community College,
1970 , p. 7.

27J. S. Eaton, "A Model for Educational Cognitive Style Based
Upon a Paradigm for Psychohistorical Inquiry, with Emphasis on Educa-
tional Memory" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1975).

28J. E. Hill, "Cognitive Style as an Educational Science"
(unpublished paper, Oakland Community College, n.d.)., p. 2.

29Laurence Wasser, "An Investigation Into the Cognitive Style
as a Facet of Teachers' Systems of Student Appraisal" (Ph.D. disser-
tation, Wayne State University, 1969).

30Van Dalen.

3lHill, "The Educational Sciences," pp. 4-9.

 

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

 

The present study was designed to identify and analyze cog-
nitive styles of students who fit into certain subsets of vocational
student achievement. An ancillary purpose was to determine what pos-
sible relationships might exist between vocational student achievement
subsets and the collective cognitive styles associated with them. To
orient the reader to the focus of the present study, the following
areas of literature are reviewed: (1) vocational choice, (2) cogni-
tion, (3) human variability, (4) cognitive style, (5) educational
science, (6) mode of instruction, and (7) personalized instruction.
Besides formulating a review of literature for purposes of illuminat-
ing the reader, a related goal was to provide a background of research

that has been conducted on problems related to the present study.

Vocational Choice

 

Crites defined vocational choice as what the individual pre-
fers to do.1 He assumed that the individual had surveyed alternative
vocations and decided upon or expressed his/her preferences for one
over the others.

Vocational choice is relevant to a study of this orientation

because an individual's selection of an occupation has an obvious

38

 

39

bearing on the achievement aspect of the study and because, after all,
the study is concerned with vocational students.

A natural organizational framework for this section was sug-
gested by Osipow.2 He delineated four distinct categories of thinking
about career theory:

1. Trait-factor theories. This system assumes that a straight
matching of an individual's abilities and interests with the
world's vocational opportunities can be accomplished.

2. Sociology and career choice. This approach has as its cen-
tral point the notion that circumstances beyond the control
of the individual contribute significantly to the career
choice he or she makes.

3. Self-concept theory. The approach has as its central thesis
that (1) individuals develop more clearly defined self—
concepts as they grow older; (2) people develop images of
the occupational world which they compare with their self-
image in trying to make career decisions; and (3) the ade-
quacy of the eventual career decision is based on the
similarity between an individual's self-concept and the
vocational concept of the career he/she eventually chooses.

4. Vocational choice and personality theories. The general
hypothesis underlying these studies is that workers select
their jobs because they see potential satisfaction of their
needs. A corollary hypothesis is that exposure to a job
modifies the personality characteristics of the worker so
that, for example, accountants eventually become like one
another, if indeed, they were not similar in personality to
begin with.3

Trait-Factor Theocy

The trait-factor theory dates back to Parsons' conception of
vocational choice. He characterized an individual's selection of an
occupation as his/her "greatest decision," which occurs at that time
of life when he/she is about to enter the work force. This viewpoint
supports the philosophy that vocational choice is a problem-solving,

conscious, cognitive process. The individual purposefully and anal-

lytically decides his/her vocational assets and liabilities,

 

4O

accumulates information concerning occupations, and arrives at a
decision.4

The elements found in the educational science of cognitive
style are recognized in Parsons' theory, thereby establishing the
relevance of that theory to cognitive style as a determiner of voca-
tional choice.

Thus, it is found that this oldest of theoretical approaches
to vocational choice undergirds each of the theories of vocational
choice that is currently in vogue. Each of the other three theories
that will be considered goes beyond the general idea that people are

different and concentrates on the manner in which people express and

take advantage of these differences.

Sociology and Career Choice
As a category for career choice, sociology and career choice
has as its main proponent August Hollingshead, who wrote:

The pattern of vocational choices corresponds roughly
with the job patterns associated with each class in the
adult's work world. Therefore, we believe that the adoles-
cent's ideas of desirable jobs are reflections of theiE
experiences in the class and family culture complexes.

Lipset, Bendix, and Malm also concluded that:

The importance of family background for the education and
careers of [young people] is seen in the characteristic cumu-
lation of advantages and disadvantages. Vocational advice
from many sources is more often given to those individuals
whose families can afford to keep them in school. It also
seems to be more realistic and helpful than such advice as
is given the children of working class parents. The effect of
these and other background factors may be discerned in an
individual's choice of his first job.

 

41

This study has as a basic concern the effect of enculturation
on the individual. Enculturation is reflected in the educational sci—
ence of cognitive style in the second set--cu1tura1 determinants. As
indicated in Chapter I, the symbols that represent cultural determi-
nants are: (I) individuality, (A) associates, and (F) family. There-
fore, the studies of Hollingshead and of Lipset, Bendix, and Malm
are directly related to the present study because they all deal
directly with the influence of the family, associates, peers, and
culture on the individual's choice of a vocation.

Miller and Form specified the following ways in which schools
establish good work habits in their students:

1. The pupil is trained to stay on the job and learn his
lesson.
The pupil is trained to obey authority.
The pupil is encouraged to develop initiative and to
rise socially.
The pupil is trained to develop character.

The pupil is trained to get along with his teachers and
his schoolmates.7 '

01-h (JON

They further established three periods of choice that occur
in the selection of an occupation: (l) the preparatory work period,
(2) the initial work period, and (3) the trial work period. The first
phase is defined as the time before the individual has any work experi-
ence. It is characterized as being influenced largely by the family
and school. The initial work period is the second period and is char-
acterized by the individual seeking his/her first job, during which
education continues; this phase lasts until the individual termi-
nates his/her education. In the final period, an individual completes

his/her training and seeks the first permanent job. Miller and Form

 

42

recognized this trial period as a time during which the new worker
will change occupations several times before stabilizing with a par-

ticular choice.8

Self-Concept Theory

 

The self-concept theory is actually a developmental model of
which Super, Ginzberg, and Tiedeman have been the leading pr0ponents.
Because this is a develOpmental model, it is appropriate to define
vocational development in terms of Super's ten propositions, which are
fundamental to the theory. They are as follows:

1. People differ in their abilities, interests, and per-
sonalities.

2. They are qualified, by virtue of these characteristics,
each for a number of occupations.

3. Each of these occupations requires a characteristic of abili-
ties, interests, and personality traits, with tolerances
wide enough, however, to allow both some variety of occupa-
tions for each individual and some variety of individuals in
each occupation.

4. Vocational preferences and competencies, the situations in
which people live and work, and hence their self-concepts,
change with time and experience (although self-concepts are
generally fairly stable from late adolescence until late
maturity). making choice and adjustment a continuous process.

5. This process may be summed up in a series of life stages
characterized as those of growth, exploration, establish-
ment, maintenance, and decline. These stages may in turn
be subdivided into (a) the fantasy, tentative, and realistic
phases of the exploratory stage and (b) the trial and stable
phases of the establishment stage.

6. The nature of the career pattern (that is) the occupational
level attained and the sequence, frequency, and duration of
trial and stable jobs is determined by the individual's
parental socio-economic level, mental ability, and personality
characteristics, and by the opportunities to which he is
exposed.

7. Development through life stages can be guided, partly by
facilitating the process of maturation of abilities and
interest, and partly by aiding in reality testing and in the
development of the self-concept.

 

43

8. The process of vocational development is essentially that
of developing and implementing a self-concept; it is a com-
promise process in which the self-concept is a product of
the interaction of inherited aptitudes, neural and endocrine
makeup, opportunity to play various roles, and evaluations of
the extent to which the results of the role playing meet with
the approval of superiors and fellows.

9. The process of compromise between individual and social fac-
tors, between self-concept and reality, is one of role play-
ing whether the role is played in fantasy, in the counseling
interview, or in real life activities such as school, classes,
clubs, part-time work, and entry jobs.

10. Work satisfactions and life satisfactions depend upon the
extent to which the individual finds adequate outlets for his
abilities, interests, personality traits, and values; they
depend upon his establishment in a type of work, a work situa—
tion, and a way of life in which he can play the kind of role
which his growth and exploratory exBeriences have led him to
consider congenial and appropriate.

Buehler's writing in developmental psychology influenced the
developmental model or self-concept theory of vocational choice; how-
ever, the most influential writings in this area are those of Piaget,
beginning with his book, The Language and Thought of the Child, written

in 1926.10

Although his writing was not fully understood in the United
States for many years, Piaget is the acknowledged leader in the field
of deve10pmental psychology and the one person most responsible for
the resurgence of this field in the world today.

Super recognized the importance of developmental psychology
to career education and formulated concepts of vocational choice while
applying human variability to these concepts. He followed Piaget's
theory of the stages of cognitive development11 when he formulated his
process of vocational development stages.12 This is evident in Super's

delineationiyfwhat he considered to be the five stages of vocational

development: growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and

 

 

 

44

decline. To be more specific about the stages of vocational develop-
ment, Super also proposed that each of the two major substages has
several substages. The exploratory stage has three substages:
tentative exploration, transition exploration, and uncommitted trial.13
The establishment stage comprises two substages: committed trial and
advancement.

Overstreet and Super studied variables that could be associated
with vocational maturity. Since part of the present study is con-
cerned with the discovery of variables related to the personalization
of vocational students' instruction, these variables are included and
are as follows: biosocial factors, environmental factors, vocational
factors, personality characteristics, and adolescent achievement
factors.14

In 1951, Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, and Herma investigated
occupational decision making and established a construct that des-
cribed the four essential elements of vocational choice. Those ele-
ments are as follows:

1. Occupational choice is a developmental process which
typically takes place over a period of some ten years.
The process is largely irreversible.

The process of occupational choice ends in a compromise
between interest, capacities, values, and opportunities.

There are three periods of occupational choice: Fantasy,
Tentative and Realistic periods.

boom

In reality, these elements are phases of vocational choice
that are similar to Piaget's in that they are distinct and readily
identifiable phases. The periods are related to each other and the
events are the factors contributing to the vocational selection an

individual makes.

 

45

The second of Ginzberg et al.'s elements was the construct

that vocational choice is irreversible. The researchers found five

factors that cause this irreversible tendency:

l.

Familial support for training. Because families assume

the responsibility for support and education of their chil-
dren for only a set period of time, changes in vocational
objective are limited by the availability of their financial
resources.

Preparation for college and work. Changes from one curric-
ulum to another are restricted by the amount of time remain-
ing after the shift to meet the requirements for further
training or for employment.

Imminence of marriage. The prospect of marriage in early
years of adulthood tends to inhibit alterations in voca-
tional decisions which would lengthen the period of prepara-
tion and necessitate a postponement of occupational entry
and the establishment of a family.

Reluctance to admit poor planning_and failure. A change in
one's vocational goals may mean an admission of poor planning
or of failure to implement plans. Such admissions may be
repugnant to the individual, and this may impel him to con-
tinue in his original course of action.

Advantages and disadvantages of changingrgoals. The disad-
vantages of a change in goals may outweigh the advantages.

 

 

 

 

 

The effect of the family is an important aspect of the con-

struct of irreversibility, and as such is intimately connected with

the educational science of cognitive style of cultural determinants.

Another developmental model of significance to this study is

Tiedeman's seven stages of vocational decision making, which is rele-

vant to the problem with which the individual is faced in making a

vocational choice. According to this author, decision making encom-

passes the following seven stages:

Exploration: This stage is marked by random exploratory con-
sideration. It is characterized by generalized, vague concern
with little or no apparent progress towards choice. Knowledge

of self and of the occupational world is a need felt, but the
individual has developed no strategy or plan of action for satis-
fying this need. There is an absence or near absence of definite

 

 

46

negative choices (exclusions from the range of possibilities).
This uncertainty is accompanied by vague anxieties and doubts
about the future.

Crystallization: This stage represents progress toward but not
attainment of choice. The individual recognizes alternative
possible choices and at least some of the consequences of these
alternatives. Conflicts are recognized; advantages and disad-
vantages are weighed; the bases for a decision are being devel-
oped at least implicitly. The process for narrowing down the
range of possibilities through negative choices is operating.
False steps and inappropriate earlier decisions are recognized
and used as a basis for future decisions.

Choice: This stage represents a definite commitment with some
degree of certainty to a particular goal. It is accompanied by
expressions of satisfaction and relief for having made the com-
mitment. The individual may focus on aspects or characteris-
tics of self which are evidence to him that he has made an
appropriate decision. This stage further represents a swerve
from the pessimism characteristic of the exploratory stage to

a kind of native optimism about the future. The individual
usually expresses a singleness of purpose and an unswerving
attitude of goal direction as well as an eagerness and impa-
tience to reach the goal. Focus upon the consequences of the
decision and further planning are not yet in evidence.

 

Clarification: This stage represents a process of closure in
which the individual is involved in clarification and elabora-
tion of the consequences of his commitment, as well as in
planning the details and next steps to be taken to follow
through on the commitment. (Some of these consequences of
commitment may well have been considered prior to commitment
in the crystallization stage; yet in this stage, these con-
siderations are more imminent and personally relevant, whereas
earlier, they were more distant and hypothetical.) In addi-
tion, the individual is usually engaged in a process of elabo-
ration and perfection of his self-image and his image of the
future, although planning the overt action itself may be
delayed until the environmental conditions are appropriate

for action.

Induction: This stage marks the beginning of the implementa-
tion of a decision; the point at which the individual comes

into reality contact with a new environment. One begins the
process of accommodation to a new group of people and a new
situation in the living out of one's decision. The individual's
primary mode of interaction is passive. One is hesitant and is
looking for cues from others in the group to determine what the
group's values and goals are, and what the group's expectations
of one are. While there is a general defense of self and a
giving up of aspects of self to group purpose, the individual

 

 

 

47

needs to feel some level of acceptance of one's uniqueness by
the group. Gradually, one identifies with the group through
the assimilation of one's individual values and goals into the
group's values, goals and purposes. This stage ends when a
person becomes aware of being accepted by the group.

Reformation: In this stage, the individual's primary mode of
interaction is assertive rather than passive. One is highly
involved in the group, enjoins the group to do better, and

acts upon the group in order to bring its values, goals, and
purposes into greater conformance with one's own values and goals
(which have become somewhat modified during induction). One
also acts upon the out-group to bring their view of one's iden-
tification with the in-group into greater consistency with one's
own view. There is a strong sense of self, which is somewhat
lacking in objectivity. At the same time, self is abandoned to
solution and group purpose. The result of this stage is a modi-
fication of the group's values, goals, and purposes.

Integration: In this stage, older group members react against
the new menber's force for change, which causes the individual
to compromise or modify one's intentions. This results in a
greater objectivity towards self and towards the group's pur-
poses. A synthesis is achieved which both the individual and
the group strive to maintain through collaborative activity.
The individual is satisfied, at least temporarily, and one has
an image of self as successful, while the group also considers
one successful.

 

 

Tiedeman's approach to vocational development contains a
view of the individual as being responsible for his/her behavior and
being able to choose thoughtful action. Life environmentally causes
the individual to have discontinuities of experience. These dis-
continuities are socially and physically experienced or anticipated.
When one effectively resolves these problems, control over his/her
own environment gradually increases. This increased control or
responsibility for one's own behavior, in turn, creates further pur-

‘8 As this theory suggests an orderly progression

poseful action.
through the seven steps, it is important to realize that people do
differ in their manner of making selections and decisions. This

difference is important to the current study because it reflects

 

 

48

one of the major themes of the study: the relationship of the educa-
tional science of cognitive style to the individual's decision-making
style.

In 1967, Dinklage developed a system of categorizing secon-
dary school students on the basis of their ability to make decisions
in the areas of education, vocation, and personal affairs. The eight
decision-making styles were as follows: planning, intuitive, com-
plaint, fatalistic, impulsive, delaying, agonizing, and paralytic.

She found differences in style on the variables of sex and type of
institution the student attended. Dinklage concluded that planning
style was the most effective, and that intuitive style had some effect
on decision making; the remaining styles were considered ineffective.19

Vocational choice and personality theories grew from a series
of studies by Roe, starting in 1951 and documented in several mono-
graphs.20 She was primarily interested in the differences between
scientists in terms of personality. Roe's theory has three major
components. The first assumes that childhood experiences are likely
to be related to vocational choice. The second component of voca-
tional choice is related to Maslow's theory of "need."21 The third
and last component is genetic influences on vocational choice and
decision making.

Holland developed a theory of vocational selection based on
combining the theory of career choice as an extension of personality
and the theory that people see themselves in terms of occupational

titles. Holland's original idea of vocational development theory

suggested a specific method of classifying people according to their

 

49

personality, as shown through vocational preferences.22 According to
him, there are six personality model types and six environmental
model types within which any individual or environment may be classi-
fied. Holland described this theory as "a heuristic theory of per-
sonality types and environmental situations," meaning that the theory

had as its basic theme the intention of establishing the stimulation

23

of investigation along these lines. Holland's theory was grounded

in the following assumptions:

The choice of a vocation is an expression of personality.

. Interest inventories are personality inventories.
Vocational stereotypes have reliable and important psychological
and sociological meanings. . . The members of a vocation have
'similar personalities and similar histories of personal develop—
ment. . . . Because people in a vocational group have similar
personalities, they will respond to many situations and problems
in similar ways, and they will create characteristic interper-
sonal environments. . . .Vocational satisfaction, stability,
and achievement depend on the congruency between one '5 per-
sonality and the environment (composed largely of other people)
in which one works. . . Our knowledge of vocational life is
disorganized and often isolated from the main body of psycho-
logical and sociological knowledge.

Holland described his theory of vocational choice in the fol-
lowing series of propositions:

1. In our culture, most persons can be categorized as one
of six types--Realistic, Intellectual, Social, Conven-
tional, Enterprising, and Artistic.

2. There are six kinds of environment: Realistic, Intellec-
tual, Social, Conventional, Enterprising, and Artistic.

3. Pe0ple search for environments and vocations that will
permit them to exercise their skills and abilities, to
take on agreeable problems and roles and to avoid dis-
agreeable ones.

4. A person's behavior can be explained by the interaction of
his personality pattern and his environment.

The propositions described above constitute the base of

Holland's theory. He formulated several hypotheses about personality

 

 

 

50

profiles, pairing persons and environments, and environmental pat-
terns. One hypothesis related to consistent-inconsistent codes and
was based on the notion that each environmental or personality pattern
consists of the following six symbols: R, I, S, C, E, and A. Each
of these exists to different degrees of strength. The "primary" type
is the environmental type or personality type that is the most domi-
nant. The "secondary" type is the next most dominant, and so forth.
Holland found that some combinations of primary and secondary type had
better outcomes than others. A primary and secondary type are said

to be "consistent" when they are compatible. If they are dissimilar,
they are incompatible and termed "inconsistent." The primary-secondary ~
combinations that are consistent and inconsistent are illustrated in

Figure 1.

Secondary
Primarx a _I_ s .C_ E _
Realistic - C I C I I
Intellectual C - I I I C
Social I I - C C C
Conventional C I C - C I
Enterprising I I C C - C
Artistic I C C I C -

Note: C = Consistent, I = Inconsistent

Figure l.--Consistent and inconsistent codes.26

 

51

The magnitude by which the primary type exceeds the other
profile types is termed "homogeneity." The consistency referred to
in Figure l and the homogeneity are positively correlated but not
necessarily identical. Homogeneity is a measure of degree, whereas
consistency refers to the structure of the environment or to the indi-
vidual personality. Vocational stability is an important product of
homogenous environments and personalities. Variability between per—

sonality types and environmental types is demonstrated in Figure 2.

Model Environments

 

 

Personality Types Reglg_ Igtglg_ Sggg_ gggy;_ Egtg_ Art;
Realistic ++ + - - - --
Intellectual + ++ - - -- +
Social -- - ++ - + +
Conventional - - + ++ + --
Enterprising - -- + - ++ +
Artistic - - + -- - ++
Note: ++ very attractive, + = attractive

very unattractive, - = unattractive

Figure 2.--The attractiveness of the model environments to different
personality types.27

Congruent interaction of a homogenous personality with a
homogenous environment results in a higher amount of predictability
and a greater degree of vocational satisfaction than with an incon-
gruent interaction of personality and environment or with varying

degrees of heterogeneity.

 

52

Thus far, only the psychological factors of vocational choice
have been considered. The other side of the coin is the genetic
factors of career choice. Or how much of the differential in students'
career interests is because of nature and how much is because of
nurture? Grotevant, Scarr, and Weinberg tried to separate genetic
from environmental interests by testing 870 parents and children of
natural and adoptive families in Minnesota. The results of their two-
year study indicated that genetic endowment contributes to differences
in individuals' vocational interest. The data suggested that:

We don't inherit genes for investigative or conventional

interests, but there does seem to be a genetic influence on

more broadly defined styles of interacting and coping with

the world, such as sociability, activity level, and emotionality.
Although genes don't dictate our occupational choices, they will
probably predispose us to be more attracted to certain activi-
ties and occupations.28

The present study is related to the work of Grotevant et al.,
in that both efforts recognize the influence of the family on the
individual in selecting a career.

From the literature reviewed on career choice, it is apparent
that the process is complex, involving symbols and cultural deter-
minants. Cognition is also a significant prelude to human variability;

selected aspects of that subject are explored in the next section of

this chapter.

Cognition

According to the dictionary, cognition is the mental process
by which knowledge is acquired.29 Or more aptly stated, cognition is

the process of knowing. Cognition is an elusive process that everyone

 

53

innately believes he/she understands. As Keen described it, cognition

30 To understand and

is "the currency of our conscious activity."
appreciate the development of growth traits of intelligence in the
individual, it is necessary to review the theory of Piaget, who was
mentioned earlier in this chapter (see p. 43).

Piaget's major work on intellectual development has enlightened
scientists and pointed the way toward new conceptualizations of the
human mind, intelligence, and cognition. Piaget is known primarily as
a child psychologist and developmental psychologist, but he is also a
mathematician and philosopher. He prefers to be identified as a
genetic epistemologist. In this capacity, he has studied the origin
of knowledge, i.e., how the individual comes to know and how this
knowing progresses through developmental stages. Piaget conceived cog-
nition as adaptation; he indicated that it has three components:
content, function, and structure.31

Content is what the individual sees, hears, and generally
perceives. Intellectual content varies from culture to culture, but
is reasonably constant within cultures. The content aspect of cogni-
tion is the basis for the major portion of cognition from which con-
ventional psychometric tests are derived.

Function is the biologically rooted, invariant part of cogni-
tion or intelligence. Function can also be defined as the way in which
an individual transacts with the world. Function comprises two basic
processes: organization and adaptation. Organization is the syste-

matic pattern of interrelationships that characterize the individual's

intellect. Adaptation is the process made possible by organization.

 

54

The human mind adapts to the world in two ways: it assimilates and
it accommodates. In assimilation, the mind receives data from the
world in terms of knowledge and familiar patterns, whereas in accom-
modation the mind is forced to change its internal processing in
terms of the external world.

Structure, Piaget postulated, is that portion of cognition
or intelligence that bridges the gap between content and the bio—
logically based invariant function. Cognitive structure originates
with functioning and manifests itself in content. Flavel asked:

What are structures in Piaget's system? They are the

organizational properties of intelligence, organizations
created through functioning and inferable from the behavioral
contents whose nature they determine. As such, Piaget speaks
of them as mediators interposed between the invariant func-
tions on the gne hand and the variegated behavioral contents
on the other. 2

This brief review of Piaget's theory leads to the stages of
cognitive development that he originated and elaborated on during
more than 50 years of investigating children's develOpment. These

stages are as follows:

The Sensorimotor Stage (birth to approximately two and one-

 

half years). Perceptions and movements or actions constitute the
child's intellectual instrumentation. The child is born with basic
reflexes, which become action structures (schemes). At this stage,
the child does not mentally represent objects or actions. There is no
language until the latter part of this stage. Egocentrism, although
total at first, gradually lessens, but still remains the dominant
force throughout this period. An infant's intelligence is displayed

in its actions. There is no concept of space, no concept of

55

cause-and-effect relationships, and no concept of time. Piaget
referred to sensorimotor intelligence as "practical intelligence," and
outlined the following six substages of sensorimotor development:

1. Reflexes (birth to about one month)--Exercises ready-made
schemes based on reflexes. Becomes proficient with use of sucking,
crying, swallowing, grasping, gross motor movements.

2. First differentiations (approximately one to four

 

months)--Primary circular reactions (i.e., coordination of motor

habits and perceptions through constant repetition of a behavioral
pattern until the pattern is smoothed out and mastered). Now the child
can adapt to new situations.

3. Reproduction (approximately four to eight months)--

 

Secondary circular reactions (i.e., coordination of primary circular
reactions to form intentional acts). Still involves repetition of
simple behavior patterns to achieve mastery, but now these are used to
preserve interesting sights and make experiences last. This is the
rudimentary beginning of the child's experimentation and attempts to
modify its world.

4. Coordination of secondary schemas (approximately 8 to 12
months)--Applies familiar, previously mastered schemes to new situa-
tions through a systematic combination of these schemes. For example,
the child can move an object out of the way in order to reach another
object.

5. Experimentation (approximately 12 to 18 months)--Deve10ps

 

tertiary circular reactions (i.e., devises new schemes as a response

to novel circumstances or features of an object). Makes newdiscoveries,

 

56

pursues, and explores these discoveries and their consequences, thereby
creating new schemes. Actively experiments.

6. Representation (approximately 18 to 24 months to 30
months)--Invents new means through mental combinations. For the first
time can consider various alternative strategies without actually
having to perform them. Begins symbolic representation. Language is
only one form of symbolic representation (Piaget preferred to use the
linguist's term "semiotic function"):

This function is the ability to represent something by a

sign or a symbol or another' object. In addition to language,
the semiotic function includes gestures, either idiosyncratic
or, as in the case of the deaf and dumb language, systematized.
It includes deferred imitation, that is, imitation that takes
place when the model is no longer present. It includes draw-
ing, painting, modeling. It includes mental imagery, which I
have characterized . . . as internalized imitation. In all
these cases, there is a signifier which represents that which
is signified, and all these ways are used by individual chil-
dren in their passage from intelligence that is acted out to
intelligence that is thought. Language is but one among these
many aspects of the semiotic functggn, even though it is in
most instances the most important.

The period of preoperational thought (two or three years to
seven or eight years)--Within the preoperational period is the precon-
ceptual period, in which the child can symbolize but cannot perform
operations. That is, the child can differentiate words and images
from the objects or events to which the thoughts, images, and repre-
sentations refer. He cannot integrate his thoughts into networks of
thoughts in which he can reverse his thinking (reversibility is neces-
sary for true operational thought, according to Piaget). Actions are
internalized and, therefore, represented, but thought is not liberated

from perceptions. Thus, the child in this perception-bound state will

 

57

make decisions based on perceptual clues when confronted with a
conflict between cognitions and perceptions. The child gradually
becomes less dependent on direct sensorimotor actions, and his speech
develops through two major developmental periods:

1. Egocentric speech (two years to four or five years)--

 

No communication or intent to communicate in the adult sense. Speaks
in the presence of others, but without intention that others should
hear his words. Speaks "according to himself" but not "for himself."
When he says he speaks for others, he actually speaks from his own
point of view. Piaget called nonconversations of this type collec-
tive monologues. In many cases, egocentric speech is the thinking of
actions out loud.

2. Socialized epeech (by ages five, six, seven)--The child

 

begins to communicate and exchange ideas, and intends that others
should hear him and listen. Since cooperation depends on socialized
speech, as well as for other reasons, this development has important
implications for vocational education.

The intuitive substage of preoperational thought occurs from
approximately four and one-half years to about seven or eight years.
Thinking has progressed to the point where the child can give reasons
for beliefs and actions and can form some concepts. The child's
thinking is intuitive and not logical in the operational sense; i.e.,
his/her thought is not reversible. The child's perception is cen-
tered, in that he/she can perceive only one aspect or feature at a

time.

 

58

The period of concrete operations (7 or 8 years to about 11
or 12 years)--The child becomes capable of true thought. Operational
thought makes it possible for the child to relate events to other
events and the whole of which they are a part. In this period,
operational thinking is limited to concrete things and situations.
One of the most important aspects of this age is that the child
develops the ability to conserve, i.e., to hold constant certain
features and characteristics of an object or situation when some
other portion of it changes.

The period of formal operations (thought to be from 11 or 12

 

years to about 15 or 16 years, but this is not well established)--
This is the final stage of intellectual development. Before this
stage, the child has been able to deal with objects but has not been
able to deal with ideas not linked to these things. The name of the
stage comes from its primary characteristic, the ability to consider
the form of an argument rather than just its content. The child can
now deal with all classes of a problem: present, past, future, verbal,
imaginary. Formal operations are important for vocational as well as
comprehensive education; they are a necessary condition for mature
relationships between individuals. This depends on reciprocity,
conservation, perspectivism, reversibility, and other aspects of human
intelligence that do not fully become present until this period of
cognitive development is reached.

McKinnon and Renner pointed out that "no work can be found
with American children which verifies his [Piaget's] conclusions that

34

children begin to think logically between ages ll-15." In a study

 

59

of the ability of college freshmen to think logically, these research—
ers found that 50 percent of entering freshmen students were operating
at Piaget's concrete level of thought and another 25 percent had not
fully attained the criteria for formal thought.35 According to
McKinnon and Renner, the responsibility for this apparent discrepancy
between American students and the Swiss students used in Piaget's.
studies lies not with the elementary schools but with the schools of
higher education. They pointed out that American teachers have been
subjected to four years of mainly listening experience, and went on

to say that "Teachers are, in other words, not having the kinds of
experiences with inquiry which Piaget says they must have in order to

36 They continued:

allow logical thought processes to develop."
"Future teachers, therefore, assume that telling is teaching and when
they get their first class, they tell, tell, tell! If, then, a college
student develops logical thought, such development is more by accident
than design."37

Piaget's work has important implications for the present study
because of its emphasis on personalized education and the use of
various modes of instruction to expand the individual's educational
cognitive style.

Another view of why American students have not obtained as
high a degree of formal operational functioning as would be suggested
by Piaget's theory is that the tasks used to establish Piaget's theory

are not necessarily the tasks that students are using in their cogni-

tive structures. In other words, an individual's expertise may

 

6O

influence the manifestation of formal operations. Piaget described
the situation as follows:

They would, therefore, be capable of thinking formally in
their particular field, whereas faced with our experimental
situations, their lack of knowledge or the fact they have for-
gotten certain ideas that are particularly familiar to children
still in school or college, would hinder them from reasoning
in a formal way, and they would give the appearance of being at
the concrete level.3

Elkind supported Piaget's position, but contended that:

Piaget's suggestion that people be tested in formal opera-
tions in their area of specialization seems reasonable in
principle but difficult to achieve in practice. How does a
salesman, a shoe clerk, or a carpenter use formal operations?

To be sure some areas of specialization may require formal
operational thinking, but not all occupations do. Devising
tests of formal operations for specific fields is a difficult
task but one that has to be attempted if the question of the
generality or universality of formal operations is to be
answered. 9

Piaget extended his idea of formal operations into adulthood
and suggested that the student's aptitudes and choosing a vocation
would greatly enhance the manifestation of formal operations.40 This
statement suggests that vocational education has the possibility of
offering the student more than just a vocation. It appears that
selecting a vocation may help the individual attain formal operations
and a more complete way of thinking about the problems with which he/
she is confronted.

When reflecting on the review of literature on cognition, it
becomes apparent that the process of acquiring knowledge is complex,
uses symbols, and is inherent in the structure of the educational
sciences. Another aspect of the development of cognitive style is

human variability, which is reviewed in the following section.

 

61

Human Variability

 

The variability among individuals is extensive and in its
totality is beyond the scope of this review. Perceptual differences
among:studentsare also extensive and have an important relationship
to the educational sciences, with which this study is particularly
concerned. Perception is the first event in the process that leads
from stimulus to action. To understand perception, it is important
to find out what the individual responds to and why.

In the simplest sense, a stimulus is any sort of energy
change, or event, that can set off a response. Heat or pressure on
the skin, light hitting the eye, and chemical particles carried into
the nose are all stimuli in the simple sense.

It is not easy to understand fully the problem of perception.
Reality, the objects and events around the individual, seems so tan-
gible, so concrete that the individual believes the world exists just
as he/she perceives it. Experience mirrors what is "out there."
Perception, then, is the experience of objects and events that are
here now. It excludes those things that are somewhere else. Stu-
dents often learn differently in the same set of circumstances because
they perceive the stimuli differently.

Bruner dealt with human variability, and particularly per-
ception, as follows:

Perception involves an act of categorization. Put in terms
of the antecedent and subsequent conditions from which we make
our inferences, we stimulate an organism with some appropriate
input and he responds by referring to some class of things or

events. "That is an orange," he states or he presses a lever
that he has been "tuned" to press when the object he "perceives"

 

62

is an orange. On the basis of certain defining or criterial
attributes in the input, which are usually called cues
although they should be called clues, there is a selective
placing of the input in one category of identity rather than
another. . . . The use of cues in inferring the categorical
identity of a perceived object, . . . is as much a feature of
perception as the sensory stuff from which percepts are made.41
Bruner's criterial attributes or cues are selectively placed
or categorized for identification. This process of selection and
categorization is obviously exposed to large degrees of variability.
Perceptions, therefore, are seldom the same for two or more people.
The perceptual nature of the cognitive process must not and should not
be ignored. Perception and cognition are individual matters and

should be so considered by educators.

Cognitive Style

 

In recent years, an increasing amount of research attention
has been given to certain constructs concerning mental performance,
which are referred to as cognitive style. Messick conceptualized
style as comprising the typical modes of perceiving, remembering,

42 These modes have been referred to

thinking, and problem solving.
as "styles" because they are thought to be an individual's typical
approach to cognitive tasks. The topic of cognitive or learning style
has grown out of both practical and theoretical interests. Teachers
have noticed that students learn in different ways—-some through
manipulating concrete materials, others through applying abstract

logic, and still others through trial and error. Still further, a

preliminary review of recent literature indicated that investigators

 

63

have considered cognitive style from different conceptual viewpoints,
producing an extensive body of literature on the tapic.43

One popular approach has viewed cognitive style variations as
correlates of personality development.44 Researchers have identified
several dimensions of cognitive style--tempo, risk-taking, impulsivity/
reflectivity, flexibility/inflexibility, and field-dependence/field-
independence--in their work and have developed and used a number of
different measurement instruments to define and quantify these dimen-
sions for people of various ages.

Kagan considered cognitive style in his information-processing
model.45 The relationship between cognitive style variations and
perceptual and physical components was the focus of recent research

46 In terms of overall cogni-

conducted by Gardner, Katz, and Stuart.
tive deve10pment, various writers have integrated the concept of
cognitive style into such diverse models as Guilford's structure of
intellect and Piaget's developmental stages; Holland's work has also
been cited in research on the role of cognitive style variation in
vocational and educational choice.47 Many researchers, including
Ausubel in 1969 and Frostig in 1971, have postulated the potential
of the cognitive style dimension in educational remediation and
prescription.48

Although the exact working of the definitions of cognitive
style varies among researchers, all of them relate to individual dif-

ferences in information processing. Writers in the field have also

agreed on other characteristics of cognitive style. For example,

64

it is generally accepted that an individual's learning style becomes
stabilized in early adolescence.

Kagan, Moss, and Sigel defined cognitive style as "a term
that refers to stable individual preferences in mode of perceptual

organization and conceptual categorization of the external environ-

49

ment." Allport conceived a concept of "style," which he defined as

the structural consistency of personality, for style is intimately
bound to the structure of personality and changes as the structure
changes.50 Messick explained cognitive style by saying that "Con-
sistent individual differences in these ways of organizing and process-
ing information and experience have come to be called cognitive
styles."5] He included the following list of the various dimensions

of cognitive style:

Field independence versus field dependence
Field articulation

Conceptualizing styles

Breadth of categorization

Conceptual differentiation
Compartmentalization

Conceptual articulation

Conceptual integration

Cognitive complexity versus simplicity

lO. Leveling versus sharpening

ll. Scanning

12. Reflection versus impulsivity

l3. Risk-taking versus cautiousness

l4. Tolerance for unrealistic experiences

15. Constructed versus flexible control

16. Strong versus weak automatization

l7. Conceptual versus perceptual-motor dominance
18. Sensory modality preferenceg

19. Converging versus diverging 2

\OCDNOSU'l-DOON-d

Since these cognitive styles are what might be called bipolar
in nature, they tend to be independent of each other. But, in general,

an individual who is ranked as "good" in a particular style will

.— fi_._~__.—._.-_ __ ——-—-—— ..-—o

65

generally be rated the same in other styles. Warr stressed that the
methods by which individuals organize their participation in events
and activities into "coherent modes of dealing with information con-
cerning oneself and one's environment . . . are, to a large degree,
independent of the content of the information being handled."53
Holland did extensive research on cognitive style modes
related to vocational education interests. His work on vocational
choice and personality theories was discussed in a previous section of
this chapter (see p. 49). However, Holland referred to his theory as
personality models, when, in fact, they are models of cognitive style.
It was also mentioned that Holland categorized personality (style)
into six types. These types of styles are described in this section,
because they were thought to be relevant to this part of the paper.

They are as follows:

The realistic-style individual copes with his/her physical

 

and social environment by selecting goals, values, and tasks that
entail the objective, concrete valuation, and manipulation of things,
tools, animals, and machines. He/she prefers agricultural, technical,
skilled trade, and engineering vocations, but avoids supervisory and
leadership roles. This person likes activities that involve motor
skills, things, realism, and structure.

The intellectual-style person copes with the physical and

 

social environment through the use of intelligence; he/she solves
problems primarily by manipulating ideas, words, and symbols. He/she

prefers the academic and scientific areas. Activities that involve

7.— .—.._ -—

66

analytic and imaginative behavior are the forte of an individual
exemplifying this style.

The social-style individual copes with his/her environment by

 

selecting goals and tasks in which he/she can use an interest in
others in order to train them or change their behavior. Vocations
preferred by the social individual are of an educational, religious,
or therapeutic nature. He/she prefers activities involving religious,
social, and esthetic expression, and is concerned with human welfare.

The conventional-style person copes with his/her environment

 

by selecting goals, tasks, and values that are sanctioned by custom
and society. This person enjoys activities involving clerical and
computational tasks, and prefers occupations that are structured and
role oriented, such as clerk, accountant, and appraiser.

The enterprisingrstyle person is one who copes with his/her

 

world by selecting goals, tasks, and values through which to express
adventurous, dominant, enthusiastic, energetic, and impulsive quali-
ties. He/she prefers business and supervisory roles, and enjoys
activities in which he/she can make use of a persuasive, self-confident,
extroverted nature.

The artistic-style individual copes with his/her physical and

 

social environment by using feelings, emotions, intuitions, and imagi-
nation to create art forms or products. He/she prefers occupations
that involve design and constructing skills, and activities wherein
he/she can use independence of judgment and originality.54
Banks devised another approach to cognitive style models related

to vocational education. He defined five style dimensions:

67

Learning Style--Consistent patterns of behavior or activity
preferred and employed by the individual to effectively and
efficiently acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Concrete Style--A preferred learning strategy employed by the
individual where optimum learning is affected by that indi-
vidual in a situation that allows the learner to become per-
sonally and actively involved with an object or in direct
contact with phenomena in "hands on” experience.

 

Symbolic Style--A preferred learning strategy employed by
the individual where optimum learning is affected by that
individual in a situation that allows the learner to engage
in a wide variety of mediated, computational, reading or ver—
bal interaction to achieve learning.

Structural Style--A preferred learning strategy employed by
the individual where optimum learning is affected by the
learner in a highly organized situation. The sequence and
form of instruction are determined prior to engaging in the
learning activity.

 

Unstructured Style--A preferred learning strategy where opti-
mum learning is affected by the learner in an unorganized
situation. The student utilizes a random pattern of personal
selection and involvement in learning activities and objec-
tives and a specific sequence are avoided.55

 

The most comprehensive system for formulating and using cog-
nitive style is called "educational sciences," which was developed by
Joseph Hill and his associates at Oakland Community College in

Michigan. That system is explored in the next section.

Educational Sciences
One of the first applications of the educational sciences was
made by the late Joseph Hill. He directed a training program for the
Area Redevelopment Administration, through which adults were trained
to mediate the symbolic requirements of their job roles.56 This early
project encouraged Hill to pursue the educational sciences, particu-
larly in terms of cognitive style, when he became president of Oakland

Community College. Hill organized and pursued the concept of cognitive

68

style in evaluating students, prescribing personal programs, teach-
ing, counseling, and administering educational programs. His early
concept of the educational sciences was:

If education is to be regarded as a relatively rigorous
applied field of information, similar to those of medicine,
engineering, and pharmacy, its conceptual framework must
reflect a scientific orientation. The factual descriptions,
concepts, generalizations, laws, and theories which could com-
prise a scientific conceptual framework for education are of
many kinds. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to recog-
nize that the conceptual framework which will probably best
serve the purpose of education will be one composed of a set of
disciplines which we might call the educational sciences. If
this notion can be assured, then the framework can be mapped
in terms of the sciences considered to be fundamental to the
educative process.

If education is thought of as a social system involving
the generic elements of persons, processes, and properties,
and their interconnections, then analysis of this system shows
that there are seven aspects of it that are fundamental to its
existence. These seven aspects, or strata, can be used to con-
struct a conceptual framework unique to the applied field of
education. Since each stratum includes factual descriptions,
concepts, generalizations, and principles which apply to cer-
tain strata of education, it can be considered as a science in
its own right. These strata may be designated as: (a) symbols
and their meanings, (b) cultural determinants of the meaning of
symbols, (c) modalities of inference, (d) neurological, electro-
chemical, and biochemical aspects of memory function, (e) cogni-
tive styles of individuals, (f) teaching, administrative, and
counseling styles, and (g) systematic analysis and decision-
making.57

The educational sciences evolved into three major thrusts that
were designed to: (1) provide a common language to facilitate the
maximization of success for the individual in the instructional
setting; (2) provide a foundation for individualized instruction; and
(3) offer a systems approach to implementing the organizational
aspects of the educational sciences in the educational process. It
was Hill's opinion that if the educational sciences were, in fact,

used, the aforementioned goals could be achieved.

69

A complete description of the educational sciences and implicit
definitions were given in Chapter I; therefore, it is not necessary
to review this topic further. The subject of cognitive style mapping
is explored next; because the educational science of cognitive style
has been involved in many studies, this area of research is also
reviewed.

The earliest investigation of cognitive style maps was con-

ducted by Trowbridge in 1913.58

He was interested in explaining why
some pepple are more readily confused than others about their location
relative to their environment. This concept of a cognitive style map
was obviously different than what Hill and his associates researched
in the educational sciences. Trowbridge's concept was that of a geo—
graphical orientation, in which an individual could localize objects
outside his/her immediate field of vision. Hill's concept was analo-
gous to Trowbridge's because in Hill's conceptualization the indi-
vidual's cognitive style is determined by the way the person takes
note of his/her surroundings, seeks meaning, and becomes informed.
Hardwick, McIntyre, and Pick wrote a monograph relevant to this sub-

59

ject. They reviewed historical and current work in this area in

great detail, and discussed the use of a triangulation task for
analyzing cognitive maps.6O
Witken suggested that the elements of a student's cognitive
style might be used to profile or map his/her method of learning as a
supplement to other test data on the student:
The cognitive maps that we will in time be able to estab-

lish for individual children offer promise of providing a
rich, sensitive, complex, and comprehensive way of characterizing

70

children both in their cognitive functioning and their func-
tioning as persons. Whereas unidimensional assessments like
the IQ encourage us to think in terms of "more or less" and
"better or worse," the cognitive map concept focuses on the
ways in which they may be different. The result is to empha-
size individuality and to de-emphasize labelling along a
simple "better or worse" continuum.6

Hill suggested a system that uses the information about a
student's style of learning to produce a map that can be effective
in personalizing his/her instruction. According to Hill,

[Each map] reflects each student's cognitive style. A
cognitive map provides a picture of the diverse ways in which
an individual acquires meaning. It identifies cognitive
strengths and weaknesses. This information can be used to
build a personalized program of instruction.

Results from a battery of tests and inventories are pro-
cessed through the college's computer system to produce a map
of cognitive traits that describe the many ways each student
might seek meaning. Cognitive maps are printed out in the form
of a cartesian product of three sets. The first set indicates
a student's tendency to use certain types of symbols, one's
ability to understand words and numbers, qualitative sensory
symbols, qualitative programmatic symbols, and qualitative
codes. The second set indicates influences which the student
brings to bear in deriving meaning from symbols. These influ-
ences are effected mainly in terms of one's own individuality
(I), or one's associates (A), or those of one's family (F). The
third set indicates the manner in which the individual reasons,
or the way in which one infers. Whether the individual thinks
in categories (M), or in terms of differences (0), or synthe-
sizes multiple relationships (R), or uses all three (S), one's
modality of inference influences, and is influenced by symbols
and the cultural determinants that are employed in that person's
style. These three sets of elements; i.e., symbolic mediation,
cultural determinants, and modalities of inference, comprise the
cognitive style of the individual. A maximum of 3,260 different
profiles of these elements are possible in ag individual's map
at a given level of educational development. 2

As mentioned earlier in this section, a review of the studies
using the educational science of cognitive style was thought to be of
value since the present study was concerned with cognitive style as a

means of personalizing vocational education. Studies are available

71

for each of the seven educational sciences. Berry and Sutton compiled
an annotated bibliography of studies that have been conducted in each
area. The following discussion of research on the educational sci-
ences is based on their bibliography.

As related to the educational science of the first set,
symbols and their meanings, the variation in kinds of symbols came
from the work of Champlin and Villemain.64

The second set, cultural determinants, was derived from the

work of Kelley.65

66

Parsons later developed the concept of "indi-

67

viduality." Merton

68

worked in the area of role-set theory, and
Cross found that the father's occupation was an important variable
in determining college attendance.

The third set, modalities of inference, was conceptualized

69 70 Bruner,7] and Guilford.72

from the works of Piaget, Wertheimer,
These works served as the foundations of this science.

The fourth set, memory-concern, emphasizes the neurological
basis of memory. Piaget's research on thinking involves two of the

elements in the memory subset.73

Piaget considered thinking to be an
internal action. He conceived of thinking as adaptation, and said
that it comprises three major components: content, function, and
structure. Piaget contended that interiorization implies assimila-
tion and accommodation. Assimilation is the process whereby the mind
receives data from the world in terms of existing knowledge, familiar
patterns, and the known. Accommodation is the complementary process

by which the environment Operates on the organism and forces the mind

to change its internal functioning in terms of the external world.

72

The fifth set, cognitive style, was defined by Allport74 as

75

the consistency and pattern of expressed behaviors. Broverman and

76

Gardner studied cognitive style in the context of personality.

Hill developed educational cognitive style, which was investigated

77 78 79

by Blosser, Deloach, and Dehnke in regard to cognitive style and

educational instruction. In an attempt to relate selected cognitive

8° 8' and Shuert82

styles with student success, Hoogasian, Grasser,
worked within selected disciplines.
In the sixth set, teaching administrative, and counseling

83 84 and Zussman85 made significant research

styles, Greyson, Wyett,
contributions.
The seventh set, systemic analysis decision making, was

85 The

derived from the general systems theory of von Bertalanffy.
importance of system feedback was orchestrated by Wiener.87 Neumann
and Morgenstern88 did investigative research on choices.

89 investigated the educational cognitive styles of

Crowe
twelfth grade students enrolled in selected vocational education
programs, to determine the similarities among cognitive style elements
of the various groups. Her study is particularly relevant to the cur-
rent research, as both are related to the general field of vocational
education.

Bartman's90 study was designed to determine if people with
similar types of educational cognitive styles would achieve similar or
dissimilar results on a standardized inventory of vocational maturity.

Two other research efforts related to the field of vocational educa-

tion were conducted by Gura1.9] who developed an approach to the

73

reconceptualization of a vocational curriculum, and by Rice,92 who

explored cognitive styles to determine success within occupational cur-
ricula. One other study that is applicable to the present effort,
as both are concerned with the vocational school setting, was under-
taken by Jellema.93 His basic motivation was to determine the
applicability of matching the student's cognitive style with an
instructional mode based on the concept of individualized instruc-
tion. Jellema found that it was possible to assess the cognitive
style of an individual using a simplified questionnaire. He also
concluded that matching a learning style with an instructional mode
yielded inconclusive results, but appeared to indicate that a match
was of benefit to the student.94
From the review of literature on the educational sciences, it
is apparent that extensive research has been done in this area.
There has been considerably less research in the field of the educa-
tional sciences as related to vocational education. Since the mode of

instruction is an important aspect of personalizing instruction, it

is briefly discussed in the next section.

Modes of Instruction

 

The research literature reports numerous modes of instruc-
tion for teaching and learning. Among these modes are magnetically
recorded teaching-learning materials, captioned filmstrips, dioramas,
demonstration boards, 8mm silent and sound films, 16mm sound films,
pictures, games, mock-ups, models, printed materials, programmed

instruction, real objects, resource persons, simulations, simulation

74

games, slides, slide-tape presentations, sound filmstrips, study trips,
television, and transparencies.
The present study was not intended to furnish an overall
review of such a complex subject as modes of instruction. Rather, the
objective was to identify the variables that exist between the voca-
tional student's cognitive style and the instructional mode, to obtain
ideas for personalizing instruction, in terms of Hill's educational
cognitive style. To do this, students' learning styles were compared
to the style of the mode of instruction. DeNike and Strother dis-
cussed compatible cognitive style elements for the instructional
modes in their book, Media Prescription and Utilization as Determined '
py Educational Cognitive Style.95
It is the intent of this manuscript to offer a new approach
to media selection. This approach takes into account learner
cognitive styles as they relate to the mode of understanding
required by the medium. Through this approach, we can select
media that are compatible with a student's method of acquiring
meaning when confronted with an educational task.
In devising an instructional process for the individual student,

a theoretical framework and a definitive methodology are needed. These

instructional processes are discussed in the following section.

Personalized Instruction

In the book Individuality in Learning, Holtzman indicated that

 

instructional methods used in the past are now being questioned:

There is a call for education that is less routinized and
more personalized, for education that not only imparts adopted
knowledge but implants adaptive thinking, for education that
does not just master belatedly the solutions of the past but
that solves creatively the problems of She present and foresees
realistically the issues of the future.

75

In this context, literally dozens of approaches have been
developed to organize and structure school learning and activities with
the intent of perfecting personalized instruction. Two of the better-
known plans for individualizing instruction are the Dalton Plan imple-
mented in Dalton, Massachusetts, and the Winnetka Plan of Winnetka,
Illinois. In the Dalton Plan, the students "contracted" to accomplish
a specific amount of work in an agreed-upon time. In the Winetka
Plan, testing was used to determine pupil tasks. These plans were
both forerunners of mastery learning, and the major emphasis in both
plans was on students working at their own speeds.

Teachers and students are sometimes incompatible. If the
teacher is viewed as a constant instead of a variable, education can
be assessed more realistically, as Thelen described:

Everybody seems to realize that some pupils perform better

with certain teachers than with others. Indeed, toward the
end of a school year, a group of teachers will often sit down
to figure out which students should be assigned to certain
teachers.

At the University of Chicago, it has been a long-standing
custom for kindergarten teachers to recommend the first grade
teacher to which every kindergartener should be assigned.
Frequently, school counselors make similar recommendations.

Many parents try hard to get their children with certain
teachers.

Surprisingly enough, although everyone recognizes that
the interpersonal relationship between child and teacher is
at the heart of the learning situation, most systems usgd
for grouping children overlook this factor completely.9

Providing personalized instruction requires the development
of a conceptual framework for the applied field of education. Most
important, personalized instruction necessitates the development of
an educational atmosphere in which the learning style of the indi-

vidual is recognized and augmented. The cognitive style maps

76

of individuals provide a meaningful and comprehensive way of char-
acterizing the student's cognitive functioning.

In their article entitled "Career Mobility Through Personalized
Education,“ Nunney and Hill described the personalized programs of
Oakland Community College:

Although educators are aware that individuals learn not
only at different rates but in different ways, little has been
done in traditional programs to adapt teaching methods and
media to individual differences.

OCC has found that mastery of essential skills and atti-
tudes can be facilitated by the development of personalized
educational sequences employing a variety of teaching media,
instructional techniques, and flexible time sequences to
accommodate each student's identified learning strengths and
abilities. The keystone of this approach is a diagnostic
testing program that measures students' abilities to acquire
meaning through qualitative strengths as well as the more tra-
ditional theoretical methods.

Students entering OCC spend three hours taking a battery
of tests. Some tests measure subtle abstractions, some measure
visual and manual coordination, some index response of senses,
and some indicate personal characteristics. The scores achieved
on these tests and on demonstrable performances, along with
supportive data from personal interviews, are translated into
elements of the student's cognitive map--a picture of the ways
he derives meaning from his environment and experiences.

Cognitive style was conceptualized in terms of the notion of
personalized instruction as follows:

Personalized instruction is defined as that form of pre-
sentation of a desired skill, or knowledge area, to an indi-
vidual which will result in at least a 90 percent level of
successful attainment of the skill or knowledge by the person.
The assumptions are:

(1) that each individual searches for meaning in his own
unique way;

(2) that it is possible to determine which elements of a person's
educational cognitive style have enabled him to succeed in
the past;

(3) that 90 percent of all individuals can and do achieve at a
90 percent level of success in certain informal and/or
formal educational settings of their choice;

77

(4) that it is possible to match an individual's cognitive
style to a mode of understanding or form of presentation
in order to produce a 90 percent achievement level; and

(5) that an educated person is one who has developed perceptual,
cultural, inferential, and memory skills so that he or she
is able to use theoretical and gualitative symbols to search
for meaning in all experiences. 00

Bruner followed this same of line of reasoning, and main-
tained that:

We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be
taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any
child at any stage of development. It is a bold hypothesis
and an essential one in thinking about the nature of curricu-
lum. No evidence exists to contradict it° considerable evi-
dence is being amassed that supports it.101

Bloom, when discussing mastery learning, indicated:

Most students (perhaps over 90 percent) can master what we
have to teach them, and it is the task of instruction to find
the means which will enable our students to master the subject
under consideration. Our basic task is to determine what we
mean by mastery of the subject and to search for the methods
and materials which will enable the largest proportion of our
students to attain such mastery.10

Considering the problem of teacher expectation of students'
performance, Bloom stated:

Each teacher begins a new term (or course) with the expec-
tation that about a third of his students will adequately learn
what he has to teach. He expects about a third of his students
to fail or to just "get by." Finally, he expects another third
to learn a good deal of what he has to teach, but not enough to
be regarded as "good students." This set of expectations . . .
creates a self-fulfilling prophecy such that the final sorting
of students through the grading process bagomes approximately
equivalent to the original expectations.

The assumption that the majority of students can achieve at
high levels led to the development and systematic use of alternative
modes of instruction and prescription centers at Oakland Community

College. Implementation programs have been conducted at Oakland

78

Community College and the East Lansing Public Schools in Michigan,
and at Polk Community College in Florida. Analysis of these activi-
ties formed the basis for the following set of assumptions, which are
used in designing educational systems using cognitive style mapping:

1. Educational cognitive style maps can be generated for all
students.

2. Different mapping tethniques will have to be used for dif-
ferent students, largely dependent on their level of educa-
tional development and the context in which the mapping is
effected.

3. Analysis of the educational cognitive style maps must pre—
cede the design of the educational process to be followed.

4. A heterogeneous group of 30 students will need at least
5 or 6 alternative prescriptions.

5. A one-prescription system will rarely be successful for all
students involved.

6. Teacher-aides, peer-tutors, and volunteers can be matched
with a student's cognitive style.

7. The teacher's role varies from diagnostician to prescrip-
tionist to educational process designer.

8. Case studies on individual students must be developed in

order to assess the efficiency of the prescription and the

potential need for change.

9. Augmentation of elements at any age level is possible but

the amount of time needed depends upon the level of educa-

tional development, the element being augmented, the degree

of motiaztion, and the establishment of realistic performance

goals.

In addition to the preceding assumptions, personalized instruc-
tion calls for the fabrication of an educational climate in which the
style of the student and that of the teacher are mutually respected.

The foregoing information has illustrated that there is a
method by which to organize the broadly based conceptual framework
of the functions and purposes of personalized education to meet the
demands of contemporary society and the American educational system.
Vocational education and perhaps special education need the application

of these educational sciences; this, indeed, was the main focus of the

79

present study. The effort was undertaken with the conviction that

the conceptual framework called the educational sciences provides a
meaningful approach to the personalization of instruction that merits
further study. The study was considered exploratory because it was
directed to seeking trends and defining information concerned with
various approaches to the problem of individual differences of stu-
dents that could lead to the generation of hypotheses to be studied in

subsequent research endeavors.

Summary

The purpose of this chapter was to review selected literature -
related to theories of vocational choice, cognition, human variability,
cognitive style, educational sciences, modes of instruction, and per-
sonalized instruction. The review of literature, in conjunction with
the information on the design of the study presented in the next
chapter, provided the background necessary for the analysis of the data

and findings presented in Chapter IV.

80

Footnotes--Chepter II

1John O. Crites, Vocational Psychology: The Study of Behavior

and Development (New York: McGraw—Hill Book Company, 1969).

2Samuel H. Osipow, Theories of Career Deve10pment, 2nd ed.
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973), p. 9.

3

 

 

Ibid., pp. 9-10.

4Frank Parsons, Choosingea Vocation (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1909). pp. 6-7.

5August G. Hollingshead, Elmtown's Youth (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, 1949), p. 285.

6S. M. Lipset, R. Bendix, and F. T. Malm, "Job Plans and
Entry Into the Labor Market," in Man, Work and Society, ed. 5. Nosow
and W. H. Form (New York: Basic Books, 1962), p. 303.

7D. Miller and W. H. Form, Industrial Sociology (New York:
Harper & Row, 1951), p. 523.

 

 

8Ibid., pp. 629-31.

9Donald E. Super, "A Theory of Vocational Development,"
American Psychologist 8 (1953): 189-90.

10J. Piaget, The Language and Thought of the Child (New York:
Harcourt, Brace, 1926).

nMary Ann Spencer Pulaski, Understandinngiaget (New York:
Harper & Row, 1971), p. 12.

12Donald E. Super, "Vocational Development in Adolescence and
Early Adulthood: Tasks and Behaviors." In Career Development: Self-
Concept Theory, ed. 0. E. Super et a1. CEEB Research Monograph No. 4
(New York: 1963), p. 137.

13

14Donald E. Super and Phoebe L. Overstreet, The Vocational
Maturity of Ninth Grade Boys (New York: Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1960), pp. 144-45.

15E. Ginzberg, S. W. Ginsburg, S. Axelrad, and J. L. Herma,
Occupational Choice: An Approach to a General Theory (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1951), p. 186.

 

 

 

Ibid.

81
16

Ibid., pp. 193-96.
17David V. Tiedeman, "Decision and Vocational Development:
A Paradigm and Its Implications," Personnel and Guidance Journal
40 (Spring 1961): 15-21.

18

 

Ibid.

19L. B. Dinklage, Student Decision-Making Studies of Adoles-
cents in the Secondary Schools (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Graduate
School of Education, 1969).

20Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Biologists,"
Psychological Monographs 65 (1951); "A Psychological Study of Eminent
Scientists,“Genetic PsychologyyMonograph 43 (1951): 121-239;
"A Study of Imagery in Research Scientists," Journal of Personality
19 (1951): 459-70; "Psychological Tests of Research Scientists,“
Journal of Consulting Psychology 15 (1951): 492-94.

21A. H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality(New York:
Harper & Row, 1954).
22J. L. Holland, "A Theory of Vocational Choice," Journal of
CounselingePsychology 6 (1959): 35-45.

23Ibid.

 

 

 

24J. L. Holland, The Psychology of Vocational Choice
(Waltham, Mass.: Blaisdell Press, 1966), pp. 2-7.

25
26

 

Ibid.. PP. 9-12.

Ibid., p. 44.

27Ibid., p. 45.

28Harold D. Grotevant, Sandra Scarr, and Richard A. Weinber ,
"Are Career Interests Inheritable?" Psychology Today 11 (March 1978?.

29W. Morris, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969).

30Peter George Wills Keen, "The Implications of Cognitive
Style for Individual Decision-Making" (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard
University, 1973), Part I, p. 2.

3IThis is a brief summary of an enormously complex theory.
Piaget's writings are represented in the bibliography of this dis-
sertation and may be reviewed for a more comprehensive understanding
of the theory. An excellent summation of Piaget's work is done by

82

J. H. Flavell, The Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget (New York:
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1963). Other resources on this subject are:
I. J. Athey and D. O. Rubadeam, Educational Implications of Piaget's
Theory (Waltham, Mass.: Xerox College Publishing, 1970); A. L.
Baldwin, Theories of Child Development (New York: John Wiley and
Sons, 1967); R. M. Beard, An Outline of Piaget's Developmental Psy-
chology for Students and Teachers (New York: Basic Books, 1969);

D. Elkind, Children and Adolescents: Interpretive Essays on Jean
Piaget (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970); D. Elkind and

J. Flavell, Studies in Cognitive Development: Essays in Honor of
Jean Piaget (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969); H. G. Furth,
Piaget and Knowledge (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1969); Piaget for Teachers (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1970); H. Gardner, The Quest for Mind (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1972); H. Ginsburg and S. Opper, Piaget's Theory of Intellec-
tual Development: An Introduction (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall, 1969); J. Langer, Theories of Development (New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1969); J. M. Tanner and B. Inhelder, Discussions
on Child Development (New York: International Universities Press,
Inc., 1971); B. M. Wadsworth, Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Develpp-
ment: An Introduction for Students of Psychology and Education (New
York: David McKay Co., 1971). Another resource that is especially
useful because it is easily understood is Pulaski, Understanding
Piaget.

32

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flavell, Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget, p. 17.

33J. Piaget, Genetic Epistemology (New York: Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1970).

34Joe W. McKinnon and John W. Renner, "Are Colleges Concerned
with Intellectual Development?" American Journal of Psychology 39
(September 1971): 1048.

35Ibid., p. 1049.

36Ibid., p. 1051.

37Ibid.

38J. Piaget, "Intellectual Evolution from Adolescence to
Adulthood," Human Development 15 (1972): 1-12.

390. Elkind, "Recent Research on Cognitive Development in
Adolescence," in Adolescence in the Life Cyele, ed. S. E. Dragastin
and G. H. Elder (Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere, 1975), p. 53.

4o

 

Piaget, "Intellectual Evolution,“ p. 12.

83

4lJerome S. Bruner, "0n Perceptual Readiness," in Cognitive
Processes Readings, ed. R. Harper et al. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1974), p. 225.

4ZS. Messick, "The Criterion Problem in the Evaluation of
Instruction. Assessing Possible, Not Just Intended Outcomes."
Research Bulletin 69-89 (Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Ser-
vice, 1959).

43Wayne C. Frederick and Herbert Klausmeier, "Cognitive Style:
A Description," Educational Leadership 27 (April 1970): 668-72.

44E. H. Brinkman, "Personality Correlates of Educational Set
in the Classroom," Journal of Educational Research 66 (January 1973):
221-23.

45J. Katan et al., "Information Processing in the Child:
Significance of Analytic and Reflective Attitudes," Psychological
Monographs (1964).

46R. W. Gardner et al., "Cognitive Control of Differentiation
in the Perception of Persons and Objects," Perceptual Motor Skills
26 (1968): 311-30. See also Judith M. Katz:_“Cognitive Tempo and
Discrimination Skill on Color-Form Sorting Tasks," Perceptual and
Motor Skills 35 (October 1972): 359-62; I. R. Stuart, "Perceptual
Style and Reading Ability: Implication for an Instructional Approach,”
Perceptual and Motor Skills 24 (1967): 135-38.

47Charles B. Johansson, "Cognitive Interest Styles of Stu-
dents," Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance 4 (October 1971):
176-83. See also S. H. Osipow, “Cognitive Styles and Educational-
Vocational Preferences and Selection," Journal of Counseling Psy-
chology 16 (November 1969): 534-46.

48David P. Ausubel, "A Cognitive Theory of School Learning,”
Psychology in thei§chools 6 (October 1969): 331-35. See also
Marianne Frostig, "Cognitive Style," Journal of Special Education 5
(Summer 1971): 151-53.

49J. Kagan, H. A. Moss, and I. E. Sigel, "The Psychological
Significance of Styles of Conceptualization," in Basic Cognitive
Processes in Children, ed. J. F. Wright and J. Kagan. Monograph of
the Society for Research in Child Deve10pment 28 (1963): 73.

50Gordon W. Allport, Personality: A Psychological Interpre-
tation (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1937), p. 489.

S‘Samuel Messick et al., eds., Individuality in Learnipg
(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1976), pp. 4-5.

 

 

84

52Ibid., p. 14.

53F. B. Warr, ed., Thought and Personality (London: P909019:
1970). p. 10.

54Holland, "Theory of Vocational Choice," p. 15.

55d. C. Banks, "An Investigation of the Interaction of Learn-
ing Styles and Types of Learning Experiences in Vocational-Technical
Education," Final Report (Menomonie, Wisconsin: Center for Voca-
tional, Technical and Adult Education, University of Wisconsin-
Stout, 1973), pp. l-l6.

560. E. Hill, Associate Dean, Graduate Division, Unpublished
report, Area Redevelopment Administration (Detroit: Wayne State
University, n.d.).

57d. E. Hill, "The Educational Sciences" (unpublished paper,
Oakland Community College, July 1968), pp. 5-6.

58Douglas A. Hardwick, Curtis W. McIntyre, and Herbert L.
Pick, The Content and Manipulation of Cognitive Maps in Children and
Adults, Monograph of the Society for Research in Child Development
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), p. 1.

59Ibid.

60Ibid., p. 7.

6lHerman A. Witken, "Some Implications of Research on Cogni-
tive Style for Problems of Education," Archivio di Psicologic
Neurologia E Psichiatra 26 (1965): 27.

62J. E. Hill, "The Educational Sciences (unpublished paper,
Oakland Community College, April 1976), p. 3.

63J. J. Berry and T. J. Sutton, The Educational Sciences: A
Bibliography_With Commentary(The American Educational Sciences
Association, 1973).

64N. L. Champlin, "Controls in Qualitative Thought" (Ph.D.
dissertation, Columbia University, 1952). See also F. T. Villemain,
“The Qualitative Character of Intelligence" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Columbia University, 1952).

65Earl Kelley, Education for What Is Real (New York: Harper
and Row, 1947).

66Talcott Parsons, The Social System (Toronto: Collier-
Macmillan, 1951).

 

85
67R. K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, rev. ed.
(New York: The Free Press, 1968).

68K. Patricia Cross, "Beyond Ability," The Research Reporter
2,1 (1967).

69Jean Piaget, The Origins of Intelligence in Children (New
York: International University Press, 1952).

70M. Wertheimer, Productive Thinking (New York: Harper and
Row, 1959).

71Jerome Bruner, Toward a Theory of Instruction (New York:
W. W. Norton and Co., 1966).

72J. P. Guilford, The Nature of Human Intelligence (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1967).

73J. Piaget, The Construction of Reality in the Child (New
York: Basic Books, 1954).

 

 

 

 

74A11port, Personality.

75D. M. Broverman, "Dimensions of Cognitive Style," Journal
of Personality 28 (1960): 167-85.

76R. W. Gardner, "Cognitive Styles in Categorizing Behavior,"
Journal of Personality 22 (1953): 214-33.

77Charles Blosser, "A Pilot Study to Explore the Relationships
Between Cognitive Style, Need Achievement, and Academic Achievement"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1971).

78d. F. DeLoach, "An Analysis of Cognitive Style Disparity
as an Antecedent of Cognitive Dissonance in Instructional Evaluation:
An Exploratory Study in the Educational Sciences" (Ph.D. disserta-
tion, Wayne State University, 1969).

79R. E. Dehnke, "An Exploration of the Possible Isomorphism
of Cognitive Style and Successful Teaching of Secondary School
English" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1966).

80Vaughn Hoogasian, "An Examination of Cognitive Style Pro-
files as Indicators of Performance Associated with a Selected Dis-
cipline" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1970).

81Albert Grasser, "A Multivariate Analysis of Cognitive Style
Elements as They Relate to Aptitude and Achievement Factors in Ele-
mentary Algebra" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1973).

 

 

 

86

82Keith Shuert, "A Study to Determine Whether a Selected
Type of Cognitive Style Predisposes One to Do Well in Mathematics"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1970).

83M. E. Greyson, "A Comparison of Counseling Using the Cogni-
tive Map of the Educational Sciences and the Traditional Approach in
the Educational Setting" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan,
1971 .

84J. L. Wyett, "A Pilot Study to Analyze Cognitive Style and
Teaching Style with Reference to Selected Strata of the Defined Edu-
catignal Sciences" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University,
1970 .

85F. S. Zussman, "A Pilot Study Exploration of Cognitive Style
and Administrative Style as Defined in the Educational Sciences"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1973).

86L. von Bertalanffy, General Systems Theory: Foundations,
Develppment, Applications (New York: George Braziller, 1968).

87N. Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings, rev. ed. (New
York: Anchor Books, 1954).

88J. von Neumann and O. Morgenstern, Theory of Games and
Economic Behavior (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947).

89Kathleen Price Crowe, "A Comparative Analysis of Selected
Vocational and Educational Programs in Terms of Educational Cogni-
tive Style to Determine if Sex Bias Exists" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Wayne State University, 1974).

90Leroy R. Bartman, "An Empirical Analysis of a Standardized
Inventory of Vocational Maturity in Terms of Educational Cognitive
Style" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1974).

91James R. Gural, "A Cognitive Style Approach to the Recon-
ceptualization of a Curriculum for Vocational Guidance and Counsel-
ing'I (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1972).

92Marion Miller Rice, "An Exploration of Educational Cogni-
tive Styles as a Vehicle for Determining Potential Success of Commu-
nity College Students Within Selected Occupational Curricula" (Ph.D.
dissertation, Michigan State University, 1973).

93John Jellema, "An Experimental Investigation of the Rela-
tionship Between the Instructional Mode and the Learning Style of
the Student" (Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1976).

94Ibid.

 

 

 

87

95Lee DeNike and Seldon Strother, Media Prescription and
Utilization (Ohio: Line and Color Publishers, 1976).

96Ibid., p. 23.

97Wayne H. Holtzman, "Education for Creative Problem Solving,"
in Individuality in Learning, ed. Samuel Messick et a1. (San Fran-
cisco: Jossey-Bass, 1976), p. 24.

98Herbert A. Thelen, Classroom Groupings for Teachability
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1967), p. 12.

99Joseph E. Hill and Derek N. Nunney, Career Mobility
Through Occupational Education (Oakland Community College Press,
n.d. 9 pp. 2-3.

100Derek N. Nunney, Educational Cognitive Styles: A Basis for
Personalizing Instruction (Oakland Community College Press, March
1976). pp. 1-2.

 

 

 

10lJerome S. Bruner, The Process of Education (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1977).

1028. S. Bloom, "Learning for Mastery," UCLA Evaluation Comment
1,2 (1968).

'03Ibid.

104

Nunney, pp. 16-17.

CHAPTER III

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Introduction

The background of the present study and a review of the lit-
erature in related fields germane to the research were discussed in
Chapters I and II. This chapter is concerned with the research
methodology; source of the data; sample selected for the study,
including a description of the way in which the sample was selected;
and the data-collection procedures employed in the study.

It should again be noted that the study was not intended to
be a hypothesis-testing effort, but rather was designed to provide
answers to questions that may result in hypotheses to be tested in
future studies. These questions concern the identification of cog-
nitive styles of students who fit into certain subsets of vocational
student achievement. A second purpose was to determine what rela-
tionships, if any, might exist between vocational student achievement

subsets and the collective cognitive styles associated with them.

Restatement of Objectives
The major objectives of the study are restated as follows:
1. To identify the cognitive styles of the students in the
Engineering Design class at the Southwest Oakland Voca-

tional Center in Wixom, Michigan.

88

89

2. To identify the variables that exist between the cognitive
style of the vocational student and the instructional
mode, to obtain clues for personalizing instruction.

3. To determine if it is possible to identify a collective
cognitive style and to see if there is a relationship
between categories of vocational students' achievement
and the associated collective cognitive style.

4. To discern whether there is a relationship between the
number of qualitative codes and success in the Engineering
Design class.

5. To determine how well a vocational student understands
his/her own cognitive style.

6. To verify empirically the validity of the vocational
students' cognitive style maps.

By investigating the areas identified in the above objectives,

the writer hoped to arrive at some findings that would contribute to

personalizing the instruction of vocational education students.

Setting, Program, and Sample

 

Setting
The setting for the study was the Southwest Oakland Vocational

Education Center in Wixom, Michigan. The Center is the area voca-
tional center for the southwest quadrant of Oakland County. Oakland
County has four centers that are responsible for vocational education
in their respective quadrants. Besides the Southwest Center in Wixom,

centers are located in Clarkston, Pontiac, and Royal Oak. These

90

centers provide training for students from feeder high schools
located in their respective areas. The Southwest Oakland Vocational
Center Opened in September 1971 to 750 high school juniors and
seniors, from both public and parochial students in the Clarence-
ville, Farmington, Huron Valley, Novi, South Lyon, Walled Lake, and
West Bloomfield school districts.

Students with all levels Of academic achievement attend
classes at the Center for two and one-half hours each morning to
learn a salable skill with which to enter the world Of work. They
return to their home high schools for all other classes, sports, and
extracurricular activities. A second group Of students attends
classes at the Center in the afternoon. A graduate job placement
service helps students Obtain employment. Adults also take evening
courses for job training or upgrading.

Covering 56,498 square feet Of floor space, the skills center
has four wings joined by a centrum, which houses the administrative
Office and student commons.

Career Opportunities at the school include architectural
drafting, auto mechanics, data processing, dental Office assisting,
diesel power mechanics, display, engineering drafting, food services,
graphic arts, greenhouse and nursery occupations, industrial elec-
tronics, machine shop, medical Office assisting, Office procedures,
retail plant and floral sales, and welding. Students completing
the one- and two-year courses are capable Of taking such diverse
positions as secretary, repairman, mechanic, cook, and medical or

dental assistant.

91

A federal- and state-funded special needs program provides
80 physically, mentally, or emotionally handicapped students from
all Of the feeder schools with a salable skill with which they can
enter the working world. Although the students are integrated into
the regular program, the specific course content for each area dif-
fers from the course Of study Offered tO more able students. A coor-
dinator, a counselor, and five trade teachers are specially assigned
to the program. Special needs students may end their formal training
and be placed on the job when they reach their highest potential;
this may take anywhere from three months to two years.

Financed through county, state, and federal funds, the Center
is Operated by the Walled Lake Consolidated School District. Voters
in Oakland County authorized up tO .5 mill in property taxes to
finance the Center; other funds come from state and federal sources
through the Michigan Department of Education.

As the Center is administered by the Walled Lake school system,
a short description Of that district is in order. The Walled Lake
Consolidated School District, located in southwestern Oakland County,
encompasses nine governmental units, including all or parts of
Commerce, Novi, West Bloomfield, and White Lake Townships, and the
cities Of Farmington, Novi, Orchard Lake, Walled Lake, and Wixom.

The district is the seventh largest Of the 28 school districts
in Oakland County, with a student enrollment Of 11,434 and a profes-
sional staff Of 621. More than 390 other support personnel assist in
meeting the needs of K-12 students. Twelve elementary schools, two

junior high schools, and two senior high schools are located in the

92

district. In addition, the district Operates a special education

school, a vocational high school, and an outdoor education center.

Program

Because the present study was exploratory in nature, it was
desirable to select as a source Of data a program that possessed the
necessary flexibility to allow for innovation and to assure coopera-
tion in data collection. The Engineering Design curriculum Offered
at the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center is such a pro-
gram. The total cooperation Of the director Of the Center, John C.
Xenos, was assured, because Of his dedication to the advancement Of

vocational education and his interest in the educational sciences.

Sample

The sample Of students from the Engineering Design and Illus-
tration course was selected on the basis Of a judgment-purposive
sampling technique, described by Deming as follows:

The results from a judgment-sample are obtained by pro-

cedures which depend to some appreciable portion on (1) a
judgment selection Of "typical" or "representative" counties,
cities, road segment blocks, individual people, households,
firms, articles or packages concerning which information is
to be Obtained; or (2) weighing factors that are prescribed
arbitrarily.

According to Hill and Kerber, sample selection based on this
technique is "determined on the basis of what the research worker
might consider from his experience to be typical, or representative,
sampling units."° Hill and Kerber also stated that when sample
selection is based on human judgment, it is called "purposive" or

"judgment" selection. Selection Of this type is based on what a

93

researcher might consider from his past experience to be representa-

tive Of the sampling unit.4

Tatsuoka5 and Deming6 also supported judgment selection as
being representative Of the subjects relative to the purpose Of a
study.

Random and/or probability sampling was found to be unneces-
sary since the purpose Of the study was to be achieved by formulating
answers to questions raised about the cognitive styles Of individual
students in vocational education and the existing variables related
to the instructional mode. Therefore, the use Of nonprobability
sampling was considered to be acceptable because the intended thrust.
Of the study was an in-depth analysis Of the individual's cognitive
style and the determination Of the variables related to that style
for the purpose Of personalizing the individual's instruction. Hill
and Kerber stated that general questions to be answered can provide

the same function as hypothesized research in that they can direct,

frame, bind, and limit the description or exploration Of the study.7

Sample Size Adequacy

 

Perhaps the most famous Of educational psychological studies
and writings were those Of Jean Piaget, who conducted many studies
using small numbers Of Swiss school students. These studies were
instrumental in the development Of Piaget's theory Of the cognitive
deve10pment Of children.9 McKinnon and Renner, and many others, have
pointed out that Piaget's research is not cross-cultural and, there-

10

fore, not totally applicable to American students. However, the

94

true value Of studies like Piaget's is that they promote intel-
lectual stimulation and new ideas for further research. Einstein
developed his theory Of relativity when he was in his early twenties
and then spent much Of his later life trying tO refute his own

1] This is another example Of research that did not depend

theory.
upon extensive sampling to test a hypothesis; it did, in fact,
generate much new thinking and research from other investigators.

In the field Of cognitive style research, Dehnke,12

‘3 Van Ast,14 Wasser,15 and many others have conducted studies

DeLoach,
using small samples to provide the necessary data. In view of the
stated design Objectives Of the present study and the foregoing dis-2
cussion Of the merits Of the use Of a small sample size for this

type of study, the selection Of two sections Of the Engineering Design
and Technical Illustration class was deemed appropriate for the study.

These classes consisted of 20 subjects each, or a total sample size

Of 40 subjects.

Data Collection
Instrumentation
The researcher used two instruments to procure data to analyze
the existing variables. These instruments were: Oakland Interme-
diate School District's Prescriptive Analysis for Curriculum Evalua-
tion and Review (PACER); and Oakland Community College's Cognitive
Style Interest Inventory (CSII).16 A description Of these two

instruments follows.

95

EAQ§R_is a content-oriented test developed specifically for
students in the Engineering Design and Technical Illustration program.
In testing for categories Of vocational student achievement, it is
expedient to use the PACER test. This instrument has been used in
the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center for six years and
is an excellent evaluative tOOl, particularly for occupational content
Of specific programs. The test is also equipped and set up for com-
puterized scoring, using Optically scanned answer sheets.

Joos described the underlying philosophy of the PACER system
of testing as follows:

Oakland Schools (an intermediate school district in the
Michigan educational system) has developed and is marketing a
computer-based system which provides analytic and prescriptive
processing Of testing data in a manner which is designed to
facilitate the evaluation or assessment Of school programs at
the classroom level. The system involves specially written
tests used with optically-scanned answer sheets. By use Of
the system, which is known as PACER, it is possible to pre-
scribe improvements or changes in school programs. The method-
ology can be applied to comparisons between programs, to mea-
surement and description of individual, class, or district cur-
ricular progress as well as to the assessment of experimental
treatments. The methodology Of the system is adaptable to
clinical evaluation, developmental program evaluation, or
special program evaluation. Its methodology is designed for
use in dynamic mode as a means Of assessment Of quality and
quantity concurrently with the events of education.

While the PACER system Of program evaluation could be
used with any test, it departs radically from the norming
strategy Of standardized tests. The system does not require
control groups or matched pairs, though it can be used with
either. In the PACER system Of program evaluation, there are
no assumptions Of normality Of distribution, and no usage is
made Of parametric statistics such as standard deviation or
coefficients Of correlation.

In this system, instead Of measuring pupil achievement
against items, item achievement is measured against pupils.
Programs Of education are measurable in terms Of numbers or
percentage Of pupils who achieve each test item. Ordinary test
analyses are performed upon measurement numbers no smaller or

96

less complex than a pupil score, which is defined as the sum
Of all items for a pupil. PACER analysis begins with the
smallest and least complex unit possible: the single item
achievement Of a single pupil. It maintains and reports all
Of these pupil-item units together with meaningful combina-
tions Of them. Whenever output reports a summed score, it
also reports each part Of all the parts summed.

As a result, any value reported by the system does not
need to be interpreted by an accompanying statement Of prob-
able accuracy, since every value is accompanied by the com-
plete list Of added parts. In such a context, measurement
error is a relatively meaningless idea.

PACER utilizes item analysis, not for the purpose Of test
development, but for curriculum evaluation. In this sense,
PACER is an Old method for a new purpose. PACER is made pos-
sible by modern computer technology and by specially designed
tests which can make use Of this technology for diagnostic
evaluation Of school programs.17

Item analysis Of the PACER instrument was furnished by
Dr. William Veitch, Assistant Director Of Systematic Studies Of the
Oakland Intermediate School District. Kuder-Richardson Formula 20
(KR-20) reliability coefficients were shown to be .9521. Veitch
also employed a split-half approach tO estimating the reliability Of
the PACER instrument; corrected Odd-even correlation was computed
to be .9552. The PACER test was designed specifically for students
at the high school reading and comprehension level. A description
of the test follows.

The PACER is a multiple-choice test consisting Of 150 questions,
which are divided into 14 categories: (1) general drafting skills;
(2) applied geometry and mathematics; (3) fasteners and hardware;
(4) materials and characteristics--metals; (5) materials and char-
acteristics--plastics; (6) manufacturing processes--machining;

(7) manufacturing processes--heat treatment; (8) cams and gears;

(9) electrical drafting; (lO) technical illustration; (11) reference

97

materials and standards; (12) details, layouts, and assemblies;
(13) print making and micro-filming; and (14) tool and fixture design.
The students have as much time as necessary to complete the test.
An example Of a test item follows:
15. The rule-Of-thumb for determining the minimum depth

of a tapped hole is:

equal to the radius.

1-1/2 times the diameter.
4 times the circumference.
7 times the diameter.

1/2 the radius.

(DQOU'Q

Cognitive Style Interest Inventory

The Cognitive Style Interest Inventory (CSII) battery comprises
a series Of tests designed to produce the student's learning profile.
The instruments cover students with a wide range Of abilities, from
the eighth grade to the twelfth grade; they are also set up to be
computer scored, which produces a cognitive style map. Test responses
are processed by the computer center at Oakland Community College. A
description Of the battery Of tests follows:

Verbal Reasoning Test.--In this test, composed of 25 sentences,

 

the first and last words of each sentence are omitted. The student
is asked to select from a list Of five pairs of words, the combination
of two words that makes the sentence true. Students use IBM answer

cards and are allowed 15 minutes in which to complete the test.

Example:

. . . . is to pacifist as religion is to . . . .
a. atlantis ............ minister

b. Object .............. minister

c. atlantis ............ sacred

d. war ................. atheist

e. conscience .......... minister

98

Listening Comprehension Test.--A brief story, entitled "Coke

 

and Chips in the Caribbean," is presented to the students on a tape
recording. Students are asked eight questions to determine their
comprehension Of the story.

Visual Numerical Test.--Students are given 15 minutes to

 

answer 20 problems on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
percentages, fractions, and money values. Again, answers are recorded

on IBM answer cards.

 

Example:
5473 ANSWER: a. 2485
-2987 b. 2486
c. 2496
d. 3486
e. None Of these

Reading Comprehension Test.--The students are instructed to
read 8 stories and answer 36 questions about those stories. The test
has a time limit Of 20 minutes; answers are recorded on IBM cards.

Oral Numerical Test.--In this test, the students are asked to

 

listen to a mathematical problem on a tape recording and then write
down the answer on an answer sheet. They have about 20 seconds to

compute each answer.

Example:

How many hours will it take to drive 300 miles at 60 miles
per hour?

Languege Structure and Usage Test.--In this test, the student
is given 40 minutes to answer multiple-choice questions on IBM cards.
There are 50 items on the test, and the main intention is to ascer-

tain how well the student understands the structure Of the English

99

language. Students are instructed to answer tO the best Of their

ability and to proceed immediately to the next questions.

Example:

Select the gpe_topic which could be handled best in one paragraph
Of about 100 words, assuming that you have sufficient information
on all tOpics.

 

Traveling through America

My trip west

Visiting Chicago

Arriving at the hotel

Walking through the 200 on the 4th of July

(DQOU'Q!

Qualitative Codes Test.--The questions on this test deal with
the student's interests, beliefs, attitudes, values, and other aspects
Of personal behavior. The test comprises 40 statements, and the stu-
dent is asked tO rate each statement according tO how similar it is
to him/her. The choices are: usually, sometimes, seldom, and never.
This test has nO time limit, but each student is directed tO give the

first answer that comes to mind.

Example:

I can understand how others feel.
a. Usually

b. Sometimes

c. Seldom

d. Never

Visual Test: A slide projector and screen are used to pre-
sent several pictures with patterns on them. A piece is removed from
each pattern and placed at the bottom Of the screen, along with sev-
eral other similar pieces. The student is to select the proper piece

that fits the picture.

100

Auditory Test: In this test, a series Of sound patterns is
presented, using a tape recorder. The student is to complete the
pattern on an answer sheet within 30 seconds.

Qualitative Life Choice Test.--This test is made up Of 32
items covering tOpics similar to those in the Qualitative Codes Test.
The procedure for this test is the same as that for the Qualitative

Codes Test.

Example:

I compete effectively in amateur sports.
a. Usually

b. Sometimes

c. Seldom

d. Never

Test Of Cultural Effects.--This test consists of 10 incidents
or stories that involve people. The student has three possible
solutions from which to choose. One Of the choices is to be ranked
"most like me,” another "least like me," and the third is to be left
blank. As before, answers are recorded on IBM cards, and there is no

time limit.

Example:

Mrs. Jones, a widow with three children at home, is about to be
evicted from the flat that she has rented for the past ten years.
In order to help her solve her problem, she should:

1. Ask her married children (or sisters or brothers) for help.

a. MOST b. LEAST

2. Ask the ladies in her church group to give her some advice
and help.
a. MOST b. LEAST

3. Realize that no one can really help her and decide to solve
it on her own.

a. MOST b. LEAST

101

Test Of Inferential Patterns.--The student is presented with

 

ten situations in which he/she is supposed to imagine him/herself.

The student is supposed to rank order the choices in order Of pref-

erence .

Example:

If you were asked to recommend a "very gOOd" restaurant to your
best friend's family, what would you do?

1.

Determine if the restaurant has the high standards of very
good restaurants you have visited in the past.

a. First choice c. Third choice
b. Second choice d. Fourth choice

Find out if its standards are in keeping with Older tradi-
tions as well as modern ones, and the extent to which it is
like or different from other good restaurants and eating
places.

a. First choice c. Third choice

b. Second choice d. Fourth choice

Discover in what ways the restaurant resembles and dupli-
cates other fine eating places.

a. First choice c. Third choice

b. Second choice d. Fourth choice

Determine in what ways the restaurant's reputation is differ-
ent from currently accepted standards Of excellence.

a. First choice c. Third choice
b. Second choice d. Fourth choice

Besides the described instruments developed by Oakland Com-

munity College and Oakland Schools, the judgments Of the teacher and

counselor who had been in close contact with the student were also

considered in determining individual cognitive style.

Mechanics Of Gathering Data

The previously mentioned instruments were the major items

used in gathering the necessary data. After conferring with the

102

school principal, it was decided that the Engineering Design class
would be the sample for the study. The class roster was number
coded to preserve the students' anonymity.

The Oakland Community College Cognitive Test Battery was
administered at the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center.
Test responses were then sent to Oakland Community College for com-
puter scoring and the production Of cognitive style maps. The teacher
and students subsequently discussed the test results and the cogni-
tive style maps.

The PACER test was administered at the Vocational Education
Center to the identical sample Of students. Test responses were
then sent to Oakland Schools for computer scoring and production Of
computer print-outs. These results were also discussed with all Of

the students.

Treatment Of the Data

 

One of the predominant purposes Of this study was to identify
cognitive styles Of students who fit into certain subsets Of voca-
tional student achievement. A second purpose was to determine what
relationships, if any, might exist between vocational student achieve-
ment subsets and the collective cognitive styles associated with
them.

To achieve the aforementioned purposes, the following proce-

dure was employed:

103

Collective Cognitive Style Profiles

 

1.

Students were grouped by subsets into low, high, and
middle quartiles, as defined by PACER methodology.

The cognitive style elements for each subset Of student
achievement were tallied.

The percentage Of occurrence was calculated using each
element's frequency Of occurrence.

Frequency charts of major and minor cognitive style ele-
ments were constructed for each subset Of student
achievement.

Profiles Of similarity were constructed, as formulated

by Nunnally in Psychometric Theory.18

 

Methodology Used in Achieving Objectives

This study had six major Objectives, which were stated in

Chapter I and again near the beginning Of this chapter. These Objec-

tives are now restated, followed by the methodology employed to

achieve the

Objectives in the present study (abbreviated Objectives

are included, rather than the full statements):

Objective 1.

Methodology

Cognitive style identification

Identifying the cognitive style Of the students in
the Engineering Design class was achieved by produc-
ing cognitive style maps, generated by the computer

at Oakland Community College.

Objective 2
Methodology

Objective 3

Methodology

Objective 4
Methodology

104

Relationship Of cognitive style and instructional mode
This relationship was established by comparing fre-
quency charts and collective cognitive style profiles
Of the students to media selection charts prepared by

Denike and Strother in their bOOk, Media Prescription

 

and Utilization as Determined py Educational Cognitive

 

Style.19

Matching the student's cognitive style to the
appropriate instructional mode is a matter Of both
kind and degree. The general formats for the instruc-

tional mode style, as described by Hill and Nunney20

and Denike and Strother,2'

are shown in Figure 3.
Identification Of collective cognitive styles related
tO categories Of achievement

This Objective was achieved by inspecting the fre-
quency chart and table of concentration Of major and
minor cognitive style elements for each subset Of
student achievement. Profiles Of similarity and
distance measures were also analyzed. A systematic
examination Of this information was carried out using
the content analysis technique, described by Berelson

in Content Analysis in Communication Research.22

 

Number Of qualitative codes
The relationship between the number Of qualitative

codes and success in vocational education was

Programmed Text

Audiotape recording
in the learning
laboratory

Faculty-led seminar
or tutor

Youth tutor/
youth peer tutor

Independent study

Captioned filmstrip

8 mm silent films

8 mm sound film

Flat pictures

 

 

OD

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or I
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F-

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M or

["3003

or

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Figure 3.--General format for the instructional mode style.

_—

 

.__._.__.‘

l L

 

H

J

 

Models

Printed materials

Real things
(realia)

Slides

Slide-tape
presentations

 

 

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vvvv

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Figure 3.--Continued.

L

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000000000
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(') O 6') O O (') (') (') 'U

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Objective 5
Methodology

Objective 6

Methodology

107

determined by systematically examining the frequency
charts and the table showing the percentage Of occur-
rence Of cognitive traits.

Cognitive style self-awareness

One Of the questions alluded tO the degree to which a
student understood his/her own cognitive style. If
students have sufficient understanding Of their own
cognitive style map, they might be able to select
their own mode Of instruction and learning experi-
ences. To effect this particular phase Of the study,
it was necessary to train the students in recognizing
cognitive style elements. An educational scientist
trained by Oakland Community College conducted a
course for both classes Of the Engineering Design
program tO familiarize the students with their cogni-
tive styles and train them in recognizing cognitive
style elements. These students were then given five
cognitive style maps, produced by the Oakland Com-
munity's College's computer, one Of which was their
own; they were asked to rank the maps on a scale from
1 to 5, from most like themselves to least like them-
selves.

Empirical verification

Verification was accomplished by comparing anecdotal

data about each student with his/her own cognitive

108

style map to determine if, in fact, the maps were
representative Of Observed information. The instruc-
tor kept a daily anecdotal data log of the student
population as it related tO key elements Of the
student's cognitive style. An Observation worksheet
was used to record pertinent remarks concerning the
mode Of instruction and observed correlations between
the student's behavior and cognitive style elements
and symbols. The anecdotal logs are included in

Appendix A.

Summary

Discussed in this chapter were the design of the study, the
source Of the sample, its adequacy, and its selection. The data-
collection instruments were discussed, and the mechanics for gathering
and treating the data were explained.

Chapter IV contains an analysis Of the data gathered in the

study; the findings are also set forth.

109

Footnotes--Chepter III

10. B. Van Dalen, Understanding Educational Research (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), pp. 204-206.

2William Edward Deming, Some Theory Of Sampling (New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1950).

3Joseph E. Hill and August Kerber, Models, Methods and
Analytical Procedures in Education Research (Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1967), p. 43.

4Ibid.. pp. 43-44.

 

5Maurice M. Tatsuoka, "Sampling," Encyclopedia Of Educational
Research, 4th ed. (1969), pp. 479-81.

 

6Deming, pp. 10-13.

7Hill and Kerber, pp. 35-36.

8Tatsuoka, pp. 479-80.

9Jean Piaget, The Origins Of Intelligence in Children (New
York: International University Press, 1952).

10Joe W. McKinnon and John W. Renner, "Are Colleges Concerned
with Intellectual Development?" American Journal of Psychology 39
(September 1971): 1047.

11Albert Einstein, Out Of My Later Years (New York: Philo-
sophical Library, Inc., 1950).

12R. E. Dehnke, "An Exploration Of the Possible Isomorphism
Of Cognitive Style and Successful Teaching Of Secondary School
English" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1966).

13J.l=.DeLoach, "An Analysis Of Cognitive Style Disparity as
an Antecedent of Cognitive Dissonance in Instructional Evaluation:
An Exploratory Study in the Educational Sciences" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Wayne State University, 1969).

14John Von Ast, "Cognitive Style Mapping: Its Use in Voca-
tional Instructor Selection and Guidance" (Ph.D. dissertation,
University Of Minnesota, 1975).

15Laurence Wasser, "An Investigation into the Cognitive Style
as a Facet Of Teachers' Systems of Student Appraisal" (Ph.D. disser-
tation, Wayne State University, 1969).

 

 

 

110

16Because Of the length of these tests, they are not included
as appendices within this dissertation. A copy Of the C511 test may
be Obtained from Oakland Community College, 2480 Opdyke Road,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48013. A copy Of the PACER test may be Obtained
from Oakland Schools, 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, Pontiac, MI 48054.

‘7Oakland Schools, A Methodology for Program Evaluation in
Schopl Systems: PACER (Pontiac, Michigan: Dakland SEhOOls Press,
1970 .

18Jum C. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory (New York: McGraw-
Hill Book Company, 1967), pp. 176-78.

‘9Lee DeNike and Seldon Strother, Media Prescription and
Utilization (Ohio: Line and Color Publishers,’1976), pp. 24-122.

20Joseph E. Hill and D. N. Nunney, "Personalizing Educational
Programs Utilizing Cognitive Style Mapping" (Oakland Community
College, 1971).

2IDeNike and Strother, Media Prescription and Utilization.

22Bernard Berelson, Content Analysis in Communication

Research (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1952).

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

Introduction

 

The major purpose Of this study was to identify the cogni-
tive styles Of students who fit into certain subsets Of vocational
student achievement. A second purpose was to determine what rela-
tionships, ifany, might exist between vocational student achievement
subsets and the collective cognitive styles associated with them.

For example, the collective cognitive style Of students comprising
the first quartile Of the PACER test might be different than the
collective cognitive style Of students comprising the fourth quartile
of that test.

Before identifying these collective cognitive styles, the
following procedures were followed: (1) the Oakland Community College
Cognitive Test Battery was administered at the Southwest Oakland
Vocational Education Center; (2) test responses were sent to Oakland
Community College for computer scoring and the production Of cogni-
tive style maps; (3) the Oakland Schools' Prescriptive Analysis for
Curriculum Evaluation and Review was administered at the Southwest
Oakland Vocational Education Center; (4) test responses were sent to
Oakland Schools for computer scoring and production of computer

printouts.

111

112

The data required for the construction Of collective cogni-
tive style profiles were gathered and analyzed according to the pro-
cedures outlined in Chapter III.

Because Of the exploratory nature of this study, no attempt
was made to test hypotheses. The main emphasis was on seeking answers
to general questions. This type Of approach gives the study a
hypothesis-generating demeanor, and adds importance to the final out-

come Of the study.

Coding Of Individuals

 

A total Of 40 students participated in the study. For pur-
poses Of identification, and to ensure confidentiality, each student
was given a code number from 001 through 040. Students were then
ranked from highest to lowest, according to the score they received
on the PACER test. The students who ranked from 1 to 10 were referred
to as being in the first quartile; students who ranked from 11 to 20
were considered to be in the second quartile; students who ranked
from 21 to 30 were referred to as being in the third quartile; and
students who ranked from 31 to 40 were considered to be in the fourth
quartile. Table 1 shows the students' coded numbers, their scores
on the PACER test, and their rank in relation to the rest Of the

students in the study.

Findings Concerning Cognitive Style Profiles
The findings Of this investigation are reported below, in

terms Of cognitive style Of the 40 students in the sample group.

113

 

 

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Espaowcczo coo mwm>_m:< m>_uowsommce Eoce mcoom :0 women .mpcooaum mo ocrxcmmii.P m—nmh

114

Definitions pertaining to cognitive style and mapping appeared in
Chapter I, a discussion Of cognitive style profiles appeared in
Chapter II, and reviews Of cognitive style and empirical mapping are
included in Appendix B.

The findings Of the present study comprise the information
generated to answer the general questions posed in Chapter I. They

are as follows:

Question 1. What is the nature Of the students' cognitive styles?
Findings: Refer to cognitive style maps, Table 2 (pp. 116-129).
Table 2 consists Of the cognitive style maps Of all 40 students in_
the sample. Preliminary analysis Of these maps indicates that the
students had a variety of learning styles, which could, indeed, be

mapped tO illustrate their cognitive styles.

Question 2. What variables exist between the cognitive style of the
vocational student and the instructional mode?

Findings: Refer to Table 3, frequency of occurrence (p. 131); indi-
vidual student maps, Table 2 (pp. 116-129); and collective cognitive
style profiles, Table 6 (p. 135). The Obvious variables that exist
between the cognitive styles Of the student and the instructional mode
were identified as (l) motivation of the student and (2) content Of
the instructional materials.

In the context Of the educational sciences, the variables
that exist between the cognitive style Of the vocational student and

the instructional mode are any variances in the cognitive style

115

elements Of the individual student as compared to the format of the
cognitive style elements Of the instructional mode.

In addition to the existing variables, question 2 also ,
alluded to the relationship between the individual student's cogni-
tive style and the format Of the instructional mode. TO answer this
portion Of the question, it was necessary to compare the cognitive
style elements Of each individual student with the various formats
Of the instructional modes. The individual students' cognitive
styles are presented on pages 116-129, and the formats Of the
instructional modes were presented on pages 105-106. Inspection Of
these maps showed that it was, indeed, possible tO identify and match

the individual student with the most appropriate instructional mode.

Question 3. Is it possible to identify a relationship, if any,
between vocational student achievement and collective
cognitive style associated with categories Of achievement?

Findings: Refer to frequency Of Occurrence and concentration Of

cognitive traits, Tables 3 and 5 (pp. 131 and 134) and profile scores,

Charts 1-12 (pp. 139-149). Also see measures Of distance (pp. 150-

152). TO describe collective cognitive style profiles, the fre-

quency Of occurrence Of each element was calculated for each quartile

Of the PACER test. If an element occurred in 70 percent Of the stu-

dents under study, it was included in the collective cognitive style

profile being constructed. Seventy percent was chosen as the per-

1

centage Of occurrence because Hoogasian used that percentage in a

similar study and Zussman2 used 65 percent, also under similar

116

Table 2.--Cognitive style maps Of Engineering Design students.*

 

 

 

 

 

. . Cultural Modalities
Symbol1c Or1entation Determinants Of Inference
Student OOl
T(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u n u
Q(V) u u u
Q(P) n u u
Q(CES) " " " A F L
Q(CH) n u n (K)
QI(CK) u n u
Q(CKH) n u u
Q(CP) u n u
Q(CS) u n u
Q(CT) n H n
Student 002
T'(AL) T'(AQ) T'(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u n n
Q(V) u u n
QI(P) u u n
QI(CEM) n u n
Q'(CES) " " " F 1 M L
Q(CH) u u u
Q(CK) u u u A1 A1
Q(CKH) n u u
QI(CP) u u n
Q(CS) n u n
QI(CT) n n u
QI(CTM) u u u
Student 003
T(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u 11 n
0(v) u u u
Q(P) n u u
Q(CEM) u H u I I L M
QI(CES) u n u A1 F1
Q(CET) n u u
Q(CH) n n u
Q(CK) u n u
QI(CKH) u n n
Q(CP) u u T
0(cs) n u I
Q(CT) n u u
0(cm) 11 11 u

Table 2.--Continued.

117

 

Symbolic Orientation

Cultural
Determinants

'Modalities
Of Inference

 

T(AL)
Q

<5-0~J3>r-

H)

0000000000000 —'|
nfifif‘ -AAAA - -A -A
n O ('3 GAO 0O OAA<A>

TM)

000000000000 -'1

T'(AQ)

T(AQ)

T

340)

T'(VL)

T(VL)

T(VL)

Student 004

 

T'SVQ)

Student 005

 

T(yoi'

Student 006

 

T(yo)

Al

AI

R' R'

D' M'

118

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants Inference
Student 007
T'(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
0(v) u u u
Q(P) u u u
Q(CEM) " " " I I M R
QI(CE5) u u n Fl Fl
Q(CET) II II II
Q(CH) u u n
QI(CK) u n u
QI(CKH) II II II
Q)CP) II II II
Q(CS) u n n
Q(CT) u u n
o‘cm) II II II
Student 008
T(AL) T'(AQ) T(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
0(v) u u u
QI(P) u n u
Q(CEM) u u u I I L
Q(CES) n u u
QI(CET) u u H Al Fl
QI(CH) II II II
Q(CK) II II II
QI(CKH) u u u
Q(CP) u u n
Q(CS) II II II
QI(CT) u u u
Q(CTM) II II II
Student 009
T'(AL) T'(AQ) T'(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u u n
Q(P) n n n A A M M
Q(CET) II II II Fl II DI L'
QI(CH) u u u
QI(CKH) u II n
Q(CP II II II
Q(CS II II II
Q(CT) u n u

119

Table 2.--Continued.

 

Symbolic Orientation

Cultural

Modalities

 

 

 

 

Determinants of Inference
Student 010
T(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
Q(V) u n n
Q(P) n u u
Q(CEM) " " " F I L (K)
QI(CEs) n u n
QI(CET) u n H Al Al
Q(CH) n n u
Q(CKH) n n n
QI(CP) H II n
QI(CS) u u n
Q(CT) n u n
Q(CTM) u u u
Student 011
T(AL) T(AQ) T'(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u n n
Q(V) H II n
Q(P) u n u
Q’(CEM) " " " A F L (R)
Q.(CES) u u n
Q(CET) u H II II II
Q(CH) u u u
Q(CK) u u u
QI(CKH) u n n
QI(CP) u u n
0(cs) u u u
QI(CT) u u u
Q(CTM) u n u
Student 012
T'(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
Q(V) n n u
Q(P) u n u
Q(CEM) " " " 1 I L
Q(CH) u u n AI Fl
QI(CK) u n u
Q(CKH) II II II
Q(CP) u n u
Q(CS) u u u

120

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference
Student 013
T(AL) T'(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u u n
0(v) n u n
Q(P) u u u
Q(CEM) " " " 1 I M R
Q(CES) u u u
Q(CET) u H II AI FI
Q(CH) u u u
Q(CK) II n u
Q(CKH) II II II
Q(CP) II II II
Q(CS) u u u
QI(CT) u n n
QI(CTM) n u u
Student 014
T'(AL) T'(AQ) T(VL) T'(VQ)
QI(A) n u u
Q(V) H II ?
Q(P) II II I
Q(CEM) " " " A I L M R
QI(CEs) u u n
Q(CET) u u n Fl FI
QI(CH) II II II 0| 0|
QI(CK) n u u
Q(CKH) II II II
Q(CP) u n :
Q(CS) u u
Q(CT) n n u
, Student 015
T'(AQ) T(VL) T(vo)
QI(A) n u u
QI(V) H II n
Q(P) u u n
QI(CEM) II II II I I M
QI(CES) II II II
Q(CET) II II II Fl FI D1
QI(CH) u n M
(New " :: ::
Q(CP) "
m " :: ::
Q'(CT) "

121

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference

Student 016

T(AL) T'(AQ) T'(VL) T(VQ)

Q(A) u u n

Q(V) u n u

Q'(P) u n n

Q(CEM) " " " F I L (K)

Q(CES) n u u

Q(CET) n n H Al AI

Q'(CH) u n u

Q(CK) u u u

Q(CKH) u H H

Q(CP) n H u

Q'(CS) u u u

Q(CT) n u u

Q(CTM) n u u
Student 017

T'(AL)

Q'(A)

Q'(V)

Q'(CEM) F'

Q'(CES)

Q'(CKH)

Q'(CP)
Student 018

T(AL) T'(AQ) T'(VL) T'(VQ)

Q'(A) u n n

Q(V) u u u

Q'(p) n u n I A D M

Q'(CEM) u u u

Q'(CES) II II II

Q'(CET) u u 0 Fl Fl

Q'(CH) n u n

Q'(CK) II II II

Q'(CKH) u u u

Q'(CP) u u :

Q(CS) u u

Q'(CT) u u n

Q'(CTM) II II II

Table 2.--Continued.

122

 

Symbolic Orientation

Modalities
of Inference

Cultural
Determinants

 

T(AL) T'(AQ) T(VL)
Q(A) n n
Q'(V) n u
Q(P) n u
Q(CEM) " "
Q'(CES) u u
Q(CET) n u
Q(CH) u n
Q(CKH) n n
Q(CP) u n
Q(CS) u u
Q(CT) n u
Q(CTM) " "
T(AL) T(AQ) T(VL)
Q(A) u u
Q(V) u u
QI(P) u u
Q(CEM) u u
Q(CH) u u
Q(CK) u u
Q(CKH) u H
Q(CP) u u
Q(CS) u n
Q(CT) u n
T(AL) T(AQ) T'(VL)
Q'(A) u u
Q'(V) II n
Q'(P) u n
Q'(CEM) u u
Q'(CES) u u
Q(CET) n n
Q'(CH) n n
Q'(CK) u u
Q'(CKH) u u
Q'(CP) u u
Q'(CS) n u
Q(CT) n n
Q'(CTM) n u

Student 019

 

T(IIIIQ)
: I F L (K)
II Al Al

Student 020
T'SVQ)

 

Student 021

 

T"('VQ)
.. F F D
II AI II

Table 2.--Continued.

123

 

Symbolic Orientation

Cultural
Determinants

Modalities
of Inference

 

-A-

-AA/-\ - —r-\ - CA
OAOOOAAOAA‘UADA
O
I
v

0000000000000 -|

0000000000000 ---|
A

r
v

u - — -f" - - -A - -A a
V

AAAAOAAAOAA>A
nonnxnnnmv<v>
-I-IUI"UI 7< Immvv
Zvvvvvv—iv

000000000000 -I
V

T"('AQ)

T'I('AQ)

T(KL)

T'(VL)

T'fiVL)

Student 022
T(I'I'Q)

Student 023

 

T'(VQ)

Student 024

 

AI

AI

Fl

Fl

Al

I I

D' R'

D' R'

R' M' D'

124

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference
Student 025
T(AL) T'(AQ) T(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
Q'(V) u u n
Q(P) n u u I I M M
Q(CEM) u u n
Q'(CES) u u n
Q'(CET) u u H Al Fl DI RI
Q(CH) u u u
Q'(CK) u u u
Q'(CKH) u n n
Q'(CP) n n u
Q'(CTM) n n n
Student 026
T'(AL) T(AQ) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
Q(v) n H H
Q(P) n n u I D L
Q(CEM) u u u
Q(CES) II II II Al
Q'(CET) u u n (K)
Q'(CH) u n n
Q(CK) u u u
Q(CKH) u u u
Q'(CP) n u u
Q(CS) u u u
Q(CT) u u u
Q'(CTM) u n u
Student 027
?L) T'SAQ) T'SVQ)
) n n
) u n
EM) u H I A L
ES) u n

CD‘DLD‘D‘DID‘DID‘D‘DID‘D'4

- AAAA AAAAAAA -

f‘f5c5r5r)r3ggr3r513<=3>’\
v

125

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbol1c Orientation Determinants of Inference
Student 028
T(AL) T'(AQ) T'(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) n n n
Q'(V) u u n
Q'(P) H II n
Q(CEM) u n n
Q(CES) n u n A F I R R
Q(CET) II II II
Q(CH) u H II DI MI
Q(CK) n n u
Q'(CKH) n u n
Q(CP) u u u
Q(CS) n u n
Q(CT) u u u
Q'(CTM) u u u
Student 029
T(AL) T(AQ) T'(VL) T'(VQ)
Q(A) u u u
Q'(V) u n u
Q(P) u n u
on (CEM) II II II A F L
Q'(CES) u u u
Q(CET) u u u
Q(CH) n u u
Q'(CK) u n n
Q)CKH) u u u
Q(CP) n n n
0(cs) u u H
Q(CT) u n u
Q(CTM) n u u

Table 2.--Continued.

126

 

Symbolic Orientation

Cultural
Determinants

Modalities
of Inference

 

T030)

T030)

T(XL)

T (VL)

T(l'I'L)

Student 030

 

T(yo)

Student 031

 

T'gvo)

Student 032
70.50)

(K)

Table 2.--Continued.

127

 

Symbolic Orientation

Cultural

Determinants

Modalities
of Inference

 

Q'(P)
Q(CEM)
Q'(CES)
Q(CET)
Q(CH)
Q'(CK)
Q'(CKH)
Q(CP)
Q(CS)
Q'(CT)
Q'(CTM)

T'(AL)
Q(A)
Q(V)
Q'(P)
Q(CEM)
Q'(CES)
Q(CET)
Q(CH)
Q'(CK)
Q(CKH)
Q(CP)

T'.('AQ) T'

T'SAQ) T'

Student 033

 

gvo)

u I F

u A' A.

Student 034
SVL) T'fiVQ)

 

II II I F
II II Al A I

Student 035
$VL) T'SVQ)

 

II II AI AI

LI

128

Table 2.--Continued.

Modalities
of Inference

Cultural
Determinants

Symbolic Orientation

 

 

Student O36

 

)
Q
Vuunuuuunuunuu
(
.1
)
IL
V.
("NHHHHHHHHHHH
T
)
Q
A
("""flflflflflflflflflfl
T
) )
))Tl ))) )M
\II \IIMSE)KmP)T-ll
L)\IPEECHC CSCC
AAV(CC(C(C(C((
(((I ((I (I (I I

TQQQQQQQQQNVQQQ

Student 037

 

(K)

)
Q
VNNNHHHHHHHNHH
(
T
)
L
Vuuunuuuuuuuuu
(
T
)
Q
AHHHHHHHHHHNNN
(
T
)))))
\II MST)KH)))M

L)))EEEHCKPSTT
AAVPCCCC(CCCCC
((((((((I (((((

TQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Student 038

 

L
F

I

I mu
)

Q
V
(II- N H H H N H N H N N H N
T
)
L
V
(N H H H H N u H .II N H N u
T
M)
Q
A
(N H N N H H u N H H N N n.-
T
)

))\.I H ))
L)))EEEHKCPSCT
AAVPCCCCC(CC(C
(((((((((I ((I (
TQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

129

Table 2.--Continued.

 

 

 

 

. . . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference
Student 039
T(AL) T' (A0) T(VL) T(VQ)
Q(A) u n n
Q(V) H II n
Q(P) u n u A A
Q(CEM) u u u L
Q(CES) u u n FI II
Q(CET) n H u
Q(CH) u n u
Q'(CK) II II II
Q'(CKH) u u n
Q(CP) u u n
Q(CS) n u u
Q'(CT) u n n
Student 040
T(AL) T' (A0) T' (VL) T(VQ)
Q'(A) II II II
Q(V) n u u
Q'(P) u u n F F L!
Q'(CEM) n n n
Q'(CES) n u H Al II
Q(CET) H n n
(I ( (:}+ ) II II II
Q'(CK) u u n
Q(CKH) H u u
Q(CP) u n n
Q'(CS) u u u
Q'(CT) u u n
Q(CTM) u u u

 

*A key to symbols used in this table may be found on page x
of this dissertation.

130

circumstances. The writer decided to be conservative and use the
higher figure of 70 percent.

Table 3 shows the frequency of occurrence of the major and
minor cognitive traits in the four quartiles of the Prescriptive
Analysis for Curriculum Evaluation and Review (PACER) test. It
was necessary to calculate this information because the frequencies
were used to compute the percentages of occurrence illustrated in
Table 4 and, more important, these frequencies were needed to con-
struct the collective cognitive style profiles and the measures of
profile similarity. The noteworthy aspect of Table 3 is that it
illustrates what symbols were being mediated by the students and to
what degree. Within the symbolic mediations, it is interesting that,
when comparing the first quartile to the fourth quartile, the fre-
quencies of the majors and minors were almost reversed. This illus-
trates that the high achievers were using more major modes of under-
standing than were the low achievers.

Table 4 shows the percentage of occurrence of the major,
minor, and negligible cognitive traits of the entire CSII test
These percentages were calculated from the frequency of occurrence
of the traits listed in Table 3. This table was included because it
illustrates the strengths of the entire population being studied, and
the reader can readily ascertain that the students had many more
major traits than they did negligible traits. The students also
showed a preference for individual cultural determinants, as evi-

denced by the fact that 72.5 percent had a major cognitive trait in

131

Table 3.--Frequency of occurrence of major and minor cognitive

traits in all four quartiles of the PACER test.’r

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Second Third Fourth
Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile
Maj. Min. Maj. Min. Maj. Min. Maj. Min.
Symbolic
Mediation
T(AL) 6 4 6 4 6 3 5 5
T(AQ) 8 2 6 4 l 9 l 8
T(VL) 8 2 5 4 5 4 l 8
T(VQ) 8 2 2 8 5 5 3 5
Q(A) 9 l 9 l 7 3 7 3
Q(V) 8 2 7 3 8 2 5 4
Q(P) 7 2 4 6 7 3 4 5
Q(CEM) 7 3 8 2 5 4 3 5
Q(CES) 6 4 2 6 5 5 4 5
Q(CET) 8 2 6 2 4 3 5 4
Q(CH) 7 3 8 2 7 3 3 6
Q(CK) 5 2 4 6 4 5 3 5
Q(CKH) 6 4 4 6 6 4 4 5
Q(CP) 7 3 9 l 6 3 6 4
Q(CS) 6 4 9 l 9 O 5 4
Q(CT) 8 2 6 3 5 5 2 7
Q(CTM) 9 l 4 3 l 5 3 3
Cultural
Determinant
I 8 2 9 O 7 l 5 4
A 4 6 3 6 5 3 2 7
F 8 l 6 4 2 6 4 5
Modalities
of

Inference
M l 0 3 l 7 0 3 3
D l l l l l 3 3 4
R O l 2 0 2 l 2 3
L 8 0 7 l 5 0 l 2
(K) 7 0 0 O l O O 0

 

*A key to symbols used in this table may be found on page x

of this dissertation.

132

Table 4.--Percentage of occurrence of major, minor, and negligible
cognitive traits in the total CSII test.*

 

 

Cognitive Trait Major % Minor % Negligible %
T(AL) 57.5 40.0 2.5
T(AQ) 40.0 57.5 2.5
T(VL) 47.5 45.0 7.5
T(VQ) 45.0 50.0 5.0
Q(A) 80.0 20.0 0.0
Q(V) 70.0 27.5 2.5
Q(P) 55.0 40.0 5.0
Q(CEM) 57.5 35.0 7.5
Q(CES) 42.5 50.0 7.5
Q(CET) 57.5 27.5 l5.0
Q(CH) 62.5 35.0 2.5
Q(CK) 40.0 45.0 15.0
Q(CKH) 50.0 47.5 2.5
Q(CP) 70.0 27.5 .5
Q(CS) 72.5 22.5 5.0
Q(CT) 52.5 42.5 .0
Q(CTM) 42.5 30.0 27.5
I 72.5 l7.5 10.0
A 35.0 55.0 10.0
F 50.0 40.0 10.0
M 35.0 10.0 55.0
D l5.0 22.5 62.5
R 15.0 l2.5 72.5
L 52.5 7.5 40.0
(K) 20.0 .0 80.0

 

*A key to symbols used in this table may be found on page x
of this dissertation.

133

this area. This was the second highest major percentage of any total
cognitive trait exhibited by the students (Qualitative Auditory was the
highest, at 80 percent).

Table 5 was constructed to illustrate the concentration of
major and minor cognitive traits in the four quartiles of the PACER
test. This information was already illustrated in Table 3, but it was
thought that including a table that only indicated majors and minors
and did not include specific numbers would be of interest to those
readers whose own cognitive styles do not include T(VQ)--Theoretical
Visual Quantitative.

Table 6 depicts the collective cognitive style profiles of
each quartile of the PACER test. These profiles indicate the learning
style of the various groups of students, categorized by student
achievement. A cursory inspection indicates that students who had
more symbolic orientations were grouped higher in terms of achievement.
It is also of interest that Modality of Inference (K) only appeared as
a major orientation for students in the top quartile. In an Engineer-
ing Design class this result is not surprising, because this modality
of inference uses deductive reasoning or the form of proof used in

geometry.

Measures of Profile Similarity

In his book, Psychometric Theory, Nunnally3 formulated the
distance measure 0 as indicative of the similarity of the profiles

of two groups, A and B. The distance, D, is obtained as follows:

134

Table 5.—-Concentration of major and minor orientation of cognitive traits in
all four quartiles of the PACER test.*

 

 

First Second Third Fourth
Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile
Maj. Min. Maj. Min. Maj. Min. Maj. Min.

Symbolic
Mediation
T(AL)**
T(AQ) X X X
T(VL) X X
T(VQ) X X
Q(A) X X X X
Q(V) X X X
Q(P) X X
Q(CEM) X X
Q(CES)
Q(CET) X
Q(CH) X X X
Q(CK)
Q(CKH)
Q(CP) X X
Q(CS) x x
Q(CT) X X
Q(CTM) X
Cultural
Determinant
I X X X
A X
F X
Modalities

of
Inference
M M
D
R
L X X
(K) X

 

*X placed in the column titled Maj. indicates that the specific cogni-
tive trait in the corresponding row has a major orientation (50th-99th percen-
tile) for that designated quartile of the PACER test. An orientation for that
population indicates that 70 percent or more of the individuals in that group
had a major orientation of that cognitive trait. X placed in the column titled
Min. indicates that the specific trait in the corresponding row had a minor
orientation (26th-49th percentile) for that quartile of the PACER test. An
orientation for that population indicates that 70 percent or more of the indi-
viduals in that group had a minor orientation of that cognitive trait. The
absence of an X indicates that the trait was negligible.

**A key to symbols used in this table may be found on page )< of this
dissertation.

135

Table 6.--Collective cognitive style profiles.

 

Cultural Modalities

Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference

 

Topruartile
T(AQ) T(gL) T010)

 

-‘I-'I'UI mrflvvv
Zvvv—iz
VV

nonnnnt<>
v

000000 CO C
AAAAAAAAA

Second Quartile

 

Third Quartile

 

T'(AQ)

Bottom Quartile

 

T'(AQ) T'(VL)
) II II A
CT) II II

 

*A key to symbols used in this table may be found on page x
of this dissertation.

136

Dab2 = (Xa1 - Xb])2 + (Xa2 - Xb2)2, where the square root of
the above expression is the distance between points a and b. For

any number of variables (k), the distance is as follows:

Dab2

(xa1 - Xb1)2 + (Xa2 - sz)2 +...+ (Xak - Xak - ka)2

2(Xaj - ij)2.

Similar profiles that have small D's have similar profiles,
whereas groups with large D's have dissimilar profiles. Nunnally
stated,

The most appealing measure of profile similarity is the

distance measure "D" which was proposed by Osgood and Suci
(l952) and by Cronbach and Gleser (l953). "D" is simply the
generalized Pythagorean theorem for the distance between two
points in Euclidean space. In the case of two persons and

two variaBles, this is the length of the hypotenuse of a right
triangle.

As the present study was exploratory in nature, the most com-
prehensive approach that could be formulated to reveal possible rela-
tionships was to compare each quartile of achievement of cognitive
traits with every other quartile. This necessitated the comparison
of six combinations of quartiles. As the cognitive traits were divided
into major, minor, and negligible degrees of strength, it was neces-
sary to formulate profiles for both the major and minor traits. No
profiles were constructed for negligible cognitive style traits.

Distance measures of profile similarity-were used to analyze the

data in Charts l-lZ. The following profiles were analyzed:

137

Chart 1. Orientation of major cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: second quartile
Chart 2. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: second quartile
Chart 3. Orientation of major cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: third quartile
Chart 4. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: third quartile
Chart 5. Orientation of major cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: fourth quartile
Chart 6. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: first quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: fourth quartile
Chart 7. Orientation of major cognitive traits: second quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: third quartile
Chart 8. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: second quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: third quartile
Chart 9. Orientation of major cognitive traits: second quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: fourth quartile
Chart 10. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: second quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: fourth quartile
Chart 11. Orientation of major cognitive traits: third quartile
Orientation of major cognitive traits: fourth quartile
Chart 12. Orientation of minor cognitive traits: third quartile
Orientation of minor cognitive traits: fourth quartile

The individual profiles are presented graphically in Charts
l-12 on the following pages. The graphic presentations are included
for those readers who possess a major cognitive trait in Qualitative
Visual Q(V), the ability to perceive meaning through sight.

The distance measure, D, was shown to indicate the similarity
of the profiles of two groups. Preliminary inspection of the dis-
tance measure for the profiles of similarity indicated that the

further the quartiles were apart, the larger the D measurement was;

138

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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9 n
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8 \ 1
I" I" I“ '\ I“
*7»----- -— -- ---\.- -- -I In--." -- ---- - -- - ..............
I l I \1 I
l | I ‘ ‘
6 I 1 I 1 1 l \ I I
/ll \III I I] '1 1‘
5 HI (1(111 (In) 11
I! 0|) 1] \I ‘1 H
4 I’ ll! u V‘l ll
" H I l [l
" I 1 I
3 ll 1 1‘ I
u ” ‘11
2 I V \j 1‘
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o l
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFMDRL(K)
\I A V I) A V 1’ C C (I C C (I C C (I C
L L (2 Q E E 15 H K.l( P S 1"T
M S 1' H M

 

First quartile students.
---------- = Second quartile students.
* = 7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart l.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits of
PACER first quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER second quartile students.

139

 

 

 

 

lO
9
8
11
ll
*74 --------- 11 ---------------------------------------------------------
{I
6 .—
,‘ 1‘ I 1“ \
I 111 1
5 1 1 11 11 1 1 I 1
II 1111 I1 ,I
4 __ l 1‘1\l1 31‘
1 1 ‘ 1 \ 1 1 \
3 1 I 1 \ 1 1 \
I r'
I 1 ‘1 1 \
1 I 1
1 1 _I 11 I
2 I 1 I 1 1 \
I 1l l
I 1! LJ 1! L A
1/ \1 \X\
0 V I v
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFNDRL(K)
V II V II A \I P (3 C (I C (I C (2 C (I C
I. L I) Q E 15 E 11 K l< P S.'T T
II S T H M
= First quartile students.
---------- = Second quartile students.
* = 7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.
Chart 2.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of

PACER first quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER second quartile students.

140

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10
9 I
II
8 I1
/ II \
w.-.” -- ----.f .................. 1-- 'T .............
I 1 1 I1 ,1!
6 /\ I 1‘ 1 '1 '1
//1 1 L 1 1 I 11
5 1I -\ I 1! 1 I1
4 )1 \_J 1 1 1 w
I 11 1111 I1
3 1 1 1 f 1 I 1 I 1
\I 11 11 1 I1
2 II I 1 1} 1
1
V I I/ 1
I I 1 LI\ I
0
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFMDRL(K)
V AI1I A AI1I P C (I C C (I C C (I C C
L.1. Q Q 5 g $211 K E F155 T ;

First quartile students.
Third quartile students.
7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

 

I-
II

Chart 3.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits of
PACER first quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER third quartile students.

141

 

 

 

 

 

1O
9 I
1|
8 II
II
*74- --------- I-I ------------------------------------------------------
I1
6 ’1‘ A‘
I l
5 [1| /1\ ,\ r1 ,1
4 I ’ I 1 1|
\ I ’ \ 1 I I
3 I, 1' 1!, 11
2 1 \ 1/ 11
\ I 1
I I ’ 111
l V \1 V 1]
11 1I \
0 V
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFMDRL(K)
V AIll A AIll P C (I C C (I C C (I C C
L 1. Q I) E ECIE H |( K 1’ S '1 T
M S 1' H M
= First quartile students
--------- ; : Third quartile students.

7 or 70% is an orientation for papulation represented.

Chart 4.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of
PACER first quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER third quartile students.

142

 

 

 

 

 

 

lO
9
8 K\\\
*7------ -- -- -- ---- .................. -- . ...............
I
6 I1
I1 I11
5 I\ II \
I1 I \ /\ 1 A
II, \/ \, \/\\‘
3 I \ I \J \._/ 1 ,1 / \._‘
2 I \I V V \\
I I 1
1 I \I \
\
O \
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFMDRL(K)
\I A V II A V F’ C C (3 C C (I C C (I C
L L (I Q E E IE H K.l( P S l"T
M S l' H M
= First quartile students.
---------- = Fourth quartile students.
* = 7 or 70% is an orientation for p0pulation represented.

Chart 5.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits of
PACER first quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

143

 

10

 

 

r-<:—I
r-:>-4
O<~I

 

First quartile students.
Fourth quartile students.
7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart 6.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of
PACER first quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

l44

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lO
9
8
\\
*7- ............ I.-.» ..... ,----
I 1 ll 1
5 f I II J\
5 ..
I I ‘\I I,
11
4 1 I
I
3 I
1I
2 11
V
1 l
O
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
V 11 V AIIl V P (I C C (II: C C (I C C
l. L (I Q E El E 11 K 1( P 55 T 'T
II S 'T H M

 

= Second quartile students.

 

---------- = Third quartile students.
* = 7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart 7.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits of
PACER second quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER third quartile students.

145

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lO
9
I
I
II
*7- .......... .1 ......................................................
1
6
I1
5 I 1 A I\
[’1 ,1 \
4 I 1 \
\
(I \
3 V K/ 1- \
I l
2 \/ 1
l
O
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
V II V AIII V P (I C C (3 C C (:13 C C
L I. Q Q E E E5 H K.l( P S 1"T
M S l' H M
= Second quartile students.
---------- = Third quartile students.

7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart 8.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of
PACER second quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER third quartile students.

146

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TTTTQQQQQQQQQQQQQIAFMDRL(K)
\I A V 11 A V 1’ C C (3 C C (I C C (I C
L L I) Q E E 15 H K.1( P S 1"1

M S 1' H M

 

Second quartile students.
Fourth quartile students.
7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

SI-
II

Chart 9.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits of
PACER second quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

147

 

 

 

 

 

 

lO
9
8 I
l 1‘
\ I
*7« ----- I-- #1 ---------------------------
I1
1 I
6 \11 A!
1 I 1 I \ / I
5 J1 - I \I
1 I
4 1/ V 1--I
1/
3 1/
2
l
O
TTTTQQQQQQQQQQ
\I.A V IIIA V 1’ C C (3 C C (I C
l. L (I Q E E2 E 11 K l< P
M 55 T H
= Second quartile students.
---------- = Fourth quartile students.
*=

7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart lO.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of
PACER second quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

148

 

 

 

 

 

= Third quartile students.
---------- = Fourth quartile students.
* = 7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart ll.--Profile score of orientation of major cognitive traits
of PACER third quartile students and orientation of major
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

149

 

lO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third quartile students.
---------- - Fourth quartile students.
7 or 70% is an orientation for population represented.

Chart l2.--Profile score of orientation of minor cognitive traits of
PACER third quartile students and orientation of minor
cognitive traits of PACER fourth quartile students.

150

the closer the quartiles were together, the smaller the D measurement

was. Therefore, these measurements indicated that what had been

expected was indeed true.

The distance measures of the profiles of similarity in

Charts l-l2 are as follows:

Chart 1.

Chart 2.

Chart 3.

Chart 4.

Major cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER second-
quartile students were:

oab2 = 189

o = 189,3 = 13.75

Minor cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER second-
quartile students were:

Dabz = 119

p = 1195 = 10.91

Major cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER third-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = 295

o = 295é = l7.l8

Minor cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER third-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = 145

o = 145* = 12.04

Chart 5.

Chart 6.

Chart 7.

Chart 8.

Chart 9.

151

Major cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER fourth-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = 399

0 = 399% = 19.97

Minor cognitive traits of PACER first-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER fourth-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = l96

0 = 196* = 14.00

Major cognitive traits of PACER second-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER third—
quartile students were:

Dab2 = l39

0 = 139% = 11.79

Minor cognitive traits of PACER second-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER third-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = 95

0 = 95% = 9.75

Major cognitive traits of PACER second-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER fourth-

quartile students were:

152

Dabz = 210

0 = 210* = 14.49

Chart 10. Minor cognitive traits of PACER second-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER fourth-
quartile students were:

Dabz = 154

0 = 154é = 12.41

Chart ll. Major cognitive traits of PACER third-quartile students
and orientation of major cognitive traits of PACER fourth-
quartile students were:

Dab2 = 149

0 = 149% = 12.21

Chart l2. Minor cognitive traits of PACER third-quartile students
and orientation of minor cognitive traits of PACER fourth-
quartile students were:

2

Dab = 113

0 = 1134“ = 10.63

Question 4. What relationship exists between the number of qualita-
tive codes and success in the Engineering Design program?

Findings: Refer to frequency of occurrence and concentration of

cognitive traits, Tables 3-5 (pp. l3l, l32, and l34), and Table 6

(p. 135). For the Engineering Design Students at the Southwest Oak-

land Vocational Education Center, and in terms of this study, the

153

more cognitive trait elements a student had in his/her cognitive

style, the greater was that student's chance for success.

Question 5. How well does the vocational student understand his/her
own cognitive style?

Findings: Inspection of students' cognitive style map selection,
Table 7 (p. 153) indicated that the students' self-awareness figures
approached the theoretical distribution; therefore there was no evi-
dence that they could identify their own cognitive style maps.

The Kalmogorov-Smirnov One Sample Test5 was used to determine
whether students could determine their own cognitive style. Table 7.
shows the cumulative distribution of the observed choices, as com-
pared to the theoretical cumulative distribution. The choices were
ranked l through 5, with l being most like the student and 5 being
least like the student. A maximum deviation occurs in column 4, in
which the amount is .05. Deviations also occur in columns l and 2,
in which the deviations in both cases are .025. As this was not an
experimental study, these figures were thought to approach the
theoretical distribution, and therefore indicated there was no evi-

dence that the students could identify their own cognitive styles.

Table 7.--Students' cognitive style map selection (N = 40).

 

(l) (2) (3) (4) (5)

 

Theoretical distribution l/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5
Number of students making

selection 7 8 9 6 10
Cumulative distribution 7/40 l5/4O 24/40 30/40 40/40

Deviations 1/40 1/40 0/40 2/40 0/40

 

154

Question 6. Can the cognitive style map of the vocational student
be empirically verified?

Findings: The cognitive style map of the vocational student can be
empirically verified. This was accomplished by compar-
ing the anecdotal data on each student with the elements
of that individual's cognitive style map. (Refer to the

anecdotal observation worksheets in Appendix A.)

Clues for Personalizing Instruction

 

Question 2 broached the issue of obtaining clues for per-
sonalizing instruction. By its very nature, Engineering Design has a
theoretical symbolic orientation. The use of mathematics of design
is based on theoretical symbolic orientation and inference. Design-
ing and drawing machinery employs codifying data and drawing infer-
ences from them. Therefore, educators providing personalized
instruction must use that information. Some clues for personalizing
instruction follow:

l. The first clue provided in the study was that the most
successful students in the first quartile of the PACER test had a
strong major element T(VQ) (better than average ability to acquire
meaning in terms of numerical symbols, relationships, and measure-
ments).

2. The second clue was that most students in the first three
quartiles of achievement used a major T(VL) (ability to find meaning

from words seen) in learning.

155

3. All students except one used either a major or minor
T(AQ) (ability to acquire meaning in terms of numerical symbols,
relationships, and measurements that are spoken) orientation in
obtaining meaning from numbers.

4. The findings indicated there was an almost even balance
across all four quartiles of the PACER achievement test in the T(AL)
element (ability to acquire meaning through hearing spoken words).

5. The fifth clue provided by the cognitive style constructs
was that all students used either a major or minor in the element
Q(V) (the ability to perceive meaning through sight). This is not
surprising, considering that the class deals primarily with trans-
lating ideas by using drawings and other visual displays.

6. A sixth clue provided by the present study was that stu-
dents in all categories of achievement used a major I (individual)
orientation style in obtaining meaning from their surroundings. A
total of 29 students in the study had a major in this category,
whereas only 7 had a minor in the category.

7. One of the elements that was rather mixed in terms of
the number of students subscribing to it was element A (associates).
This is surprising, because in actual observations the students
depended a great deal on the approval of their peers.

8. Another clue for personalizing vocational students'
instruction was mentioned in the answer to question 1. The observed
diversity of individual cognitive styles was indicated in the study.

9. The last clue and probably the most obvious is that seven

of the ten students in the first quartile had the element K (deductive

156

reasoning, or the form of logical proof used in geometry) in their
cognitive style maps. In the second, third, and fourth quartiles
there was only one other major; it was in the third quartile. There

were no minors in any of the four quartiles.

W

In this chapter the findings of the study were presented in
answer to the six questions posed in Chapter 1. Within these find-
ings, individual student cognitive style maps were presented, along
with tables of frequency, percentage, and concentration. Collective
cognitive style profiles were given for the four quartiles of the PACER
test. Profiles of similarity were also presented for the same divi-
sions of achievement; following these profiles the measures of
distance were recorded. A table showing the students' degree of
self-awareness was also presented. In the next chapter, the conclu-
sions emanating from these findings are discussed, along with impli-

cations of the study and recommendations for further research.

157

Footnotes--Chapter IV

 

1Vaughn Hoogasian, "An Examination of Cognitive Style Pro-
files as Indicators of Performance Associated with a Selected Disci-
pline" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1970).

2P. S. Zussman, "A Pilot Study Exploration of Cognitive Style
and Administrative Style as Defined in the Educational Sciences"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1973).

3Jum C. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory (New York: McGraw-
Hill Book Company, l967).

4

 

Ibid.

5S. Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral
Sciences (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956).

 

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY AND SYNTHESIS

Summar

The present study was an exploratory one; it was not designed
to test hypotheses, but rather to lead to new avenues of exploration
to personalize better the instruction of vocational students. The
predominant purpose of the study was to identify cognitive styles of
students who fit into certain subsets of achievement. A second pur-
pose was to determine what relationships might exist between voca-
tional student achievement subsets and the collective cognitive styles
associated with them. A

The study comprised five chapters. Contained in Chapter I
were the statement of the problem and its importance. The following
six major objectives of the study were identified:

l. To identify the cognitive styles of the students in the
Engineering Design class at the Southwest Oakland Voca-
tional Center in Wixom, Michigan.

2. To identify the variables that exist between the cognitive
style of the vocational student and the instructional
mode, to obtain clues for personalizing instruction.

3. To determine if it is possible to identify a collective

cognitive style and to see if there is a relationship

_ 158

159

between categories of vocational students' achievement
and the associated collective cognitive style.

4. To discern whether there is a relationship between the

number of qualitative codes and success in the Engineering
Design class.

5. To determine how well a vocational student understands

his/her own cognitive style.

6. To verify empirically the validity of the vocational

students' cognitive style maps.

Selected literature related to theories of cognition, human
variability, cognitive style, educational sciences, modes of instruc-
tion, personalizing instruction, and vocational choice was reviewed
in Chapter II. In Chapter III, the source of the data, the sample
employed in the study, and the survey methodology were discussed.
Presented in Chapter IV were the findings of the study, including
individual cognitive style maps, collective cognitive style profiles,
and measures of similarity of the occurrence of the elements in
various quartiles of vocational student achievement. The measures
of distance for the profiles of similarity were also computed and
displayed in that chapter.

Chapter V is presented in five sections: (1) Summary,

(2) Conclusions, (3) Implications and Clues for Personalizing Instruc-

tion, (4) Limitations, and (5) Recommendations.

160

Conclusions

 

The conclusions of the study are the answers to the general
questions posed in Chapter I. These questions were formulated in
an attempt to accomplish the objectives of the study. Answers to
those questions were based on the findings reported in Chapter IV.
It should be noted that all conclusions are tentative and subject to
further examination and verification in studies of a hypothesis-
testing nature. For the students in the Engineering Design class at
the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center and in terms of

available data, the following results were evident:

Question 1. What is the nature of the students' cognitive styles?
Findings: Refer to cognitive style maps, Table 2 (pp. ll6-129).
Table 2 consists of the cognitive style maps of all 40 students in
the sample. Preliminary analysis of these maps indicates that the
students had a variety of learning styles, which could, indeed, be
napped to illustrate their cognitive styles.

Relation: The above findings are pertinent to the question as they
illustrate the diversity of the students' cognitive styles.
Conclusion: The instrument used to identify the students' cognitive
styles was the Cognitive Style Interest Inventory, developed by Oakland
Community College. The cognitive map is the result of a computer
printout which, in effect, produces a picture of the student's
learning style. The combination of elements and statements can pro-
duce more than 2,300 potential profiles. The following conclusions
were based on an assessment of the learning styles of the vocational

students in the sample:

161

l. Producing cognitive style maps did provide a visual dis-
play of the students' learning styles (see pp. ll6-129). The maps
provided insight into the cognitive styles of the individual students.

2. The students tested had a variety of cognitive styles.

3. Regarding the percentage of occurrence of major cogni-
tive traits, students showed a preference for individual cultural
determinants, as evidenced by the fact that 72.5 percent of the stu-
dents had a major cognitive trait in this area. This was the second
highest percentage of any total cognitive trait exhibited by the
students (Qualitative Auditory was the highest, at 80 percent).
Inference: From these conclusions, Hypothesis 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 (to

follow) can be inferred.

Question 2. What variables exist between the cognitive style of the
vocational student and the instructional mode?

Findings: Refer to Table 3, frequency of occurrence (p. 131);

individual student maps, Table 2 (pp. 116-129); and collective cogni-

tive style profiles, Table 6 (p. 135). The obvious variables that

exist between the cognitive styles of the student and the instruc-

tional mode were identified as (l) motivation of the student and

(2) content of the instructional materials.

In the context of the educational sciences, the variables
that exist between the cognitive style of the vocational student and
the instructional mode are any variances in the cognitive style ele-
ments of the individual student as compared to the format of the

cognitive style elements of the instructional mode.

162

In addition to the existing variables, question 2 also
alluded to the relationship between the individual student's cogni-
tive style and the format of the instructional mode. To answer this
portion of the question, it was necessary to compare the cognitive
style elements of each individual student with the various formats
of the instructional modes. The individual students' cognitive
styles were presented on pages 116-l29, and the formats of the
instructional modes were presented on pages lOS-l06. Inspection of
these maps showed that it was, indeed, possible to identify and match
the individual student with the most appropriate instructional mode.
Relation: The above findings are pertinent to the question because
they illustrate the complexity of the answer, which must consider so
many variances in cognitive style.

Conclusion: The obvious variables that exist between the cognitive

 

styles of the student and the instructional mode were identified as
(l) motivation of the student and (2) content of the instructional
materials.

In the context of the educational sciences, the variables
that exist between the cognitive style of the vocational student and
the instructional mode are any variances in the cognitive style ele-
ments of the individual student as compared to the format of the
cognitive style elements of the instructional mode. The greater the
deviation of the student's elements from the elements of the instruc-
tional mode, the less likely that student will be to achieve any
success with that particular instructional mode. An example of an

extreme case is student 017, whose cognitive style map was as follows:

163

 

 

 

. . Cultural Modalities
Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference

T'(AL)

Q'(A)

A'(V)

Q'(CEM) F'

Q'(CES)

Q'(CKH)

Q'(CP)

When student Ol7's cognitive style was compared to the elements neces-
sary for the instructional mode of Printed Materials, it became
apparent that this student would be at a total loss in any attempt

to gain understanding from that instructional mode. The general
format for Printed Materials is as follows:

Cultural Modalities

Symbolic Orientation Determinants of Inference

 

 

 

VV

OOOOOO<~I<<
HMIMMMVVOI"
Zvv-Hflg
VVV
H)
t—IJCJZ

00000000 --'I -|
AAAAAAAAAA
V

In addition to the existing variables, question 2 also
alluded to the relationship between the individual student's cogni-
tive style and the format of the instructional mode. To answer this
portion of the question, it was necessary to compare the cognitive
style elements of each individual student with the various formats
of the instructional modes. The individual students' cognitive
styles were presented on pages 116-l29, and the formats of the

instructional modes were presented on pages l05-106. Inspection of

164

these maps showed that it was, indeed, possible to identify and match
the individual student with the most appropriate instructional mode.
Of course it is important to recognize that matching a student with
the appropriate instructional mode is not proof that this is, indeed,
the best possible match. Further studies are needed to verify this
type of matching.

Inference: From these conclusions, Hypothesis 3 (to follow) can be

inferred.

Question 3. Is it possible to identify a relationship, if any,
between vocational student achievement and collective
cognitive style associated with categories of achievement?

Findings: Refer to frequency of occurrence and concentration of

cognitive traits, Tables 3 and 5 (pp. l3l and 134) and profile scores,

Charts l-l2 (pp. 138-I49). Also see measures of distance (pp. 150-

l52).

Within the symbolic mediations, it is interesting that,

when comparing the first quartile to the fourth quartile, the fre-

quencies of the majors and minors were almost reversed. This illus-

trates that the high achievers were using more major modes of
understanding than were the low achievers. The students had many
more major traits than they did negligible traits. The students also
showed a preference for individual cultural determinants, as evi-
denced by the fact that 72.5 percent had a major cognitive trait in
this area. This was the second highest major percentage of any total
cognitive trait exhibited by the students (Qualitative Auditory was

the highest, at 80 percent).

165

An inspection of Table 6 indicates that students who had
more symbolic orientations were grouped higher in terms of achievement.
It is also of interest that Modality of Inference (K) only appeared as
a major orientation for students in the top quartile. In an Engineer-
ing Design class this result is not surprising, because this modality
of inference uses deductive reasoning or the form of proof used in
geometry.

Relation: The above findings are pertinent to the question as they
identify the relation between achievement and collective cognitive
style.

Conclusion: The identification of vocational students' collective

 

cognitive styles related to categories of achievement was achieved by
inspecting the frequency chart of Table 3 on page l3l. Table 5,
showing the concentration of cognitive traits, was also examined in
conjunction with the categories of achievement (p. 134). The writer
concluded that it was possible to identify collective cognitive style
profiles of vocational students in the Engineering Design class at

the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center. Collective cogni-
tive style profiles for each of the four quartiles of student achieve-
ment on the PACER test are shown on page 135.

Inspection of the profiles of similarity shown in Charts l-l2
on pages 138-149 and the measures of distance of the profiles of
similarity for these charts, on pages l50-l52, indicated that more
successful students collectively used more cognitive style elements

than did less successful students.

166

The total frequency of occurrence of majg§_cognitive traits
of students in the first quartile of the PACER test was 160 elements;
in the second quartile, 130 elements; in the third quartile, 121
elements; and in the fourth quartile, 84 elements. At the same time,
the frequency of occurrence of mfiggr_cognitive traits of students in
the first quartile of the PACER test was 54; in the second quartile,
75 elements; in the third quartile, 80 elements; and in the fourth
quartile, ll4 elements. As might be expected, as the major cognitive
trait elements decreased from the first through the fourth quartiles,
the minor cognitive trait elements increased. This suggests that the
more ways students have to find meaning from their environment, the
better will be their chances for success in the Engineering Design
program at the Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center. As
was indicated in the last part of the previous answer, the more
successful students had the modality of inference of the element (K)
(deductive reasoning) in their cognitive style maps. One might infer
that these students were more successful because they had that ele-
ment in their cognitive style, but this inference should be verified
in the context of further hypothesis-testing studies.

Inference: From the above conclusions, Hypothesis 7 (to follow)

can be inferred.

Question 4. What relationship exists between the number of qualita-
tive codes and success in the Engineering Design program?
Findings: Refer to frequency of occurrence and concentration of

cognitive traits, Tables 3-5 (pp. 13l, 132, and 134). For the

167

Engineering Design students at the Southwest Oakland Vocational Edu-
cation Center, and in terms of this study, the more cognitive trait
elements a student had in his/her cognitive style, the greater was that
student's chance for success.

Relation: The above finding is pertinent to the question because of
its specificity.

Conclusion: This question was answered, in part, by the response to

 

the previous question. For the Engineering Design students at the
Southwest Oakland Vocational Education Center, and in terms of this
study, the more cognitive trait elements a student had in his/her
cognitive style, the greater was that student's chance for success.
Inference: From this conclusion, Hypothesis 8 (to follow) can be

inferred.

Question 5. How well does the vocational student understand his/her
own cognitive style?
Findings: Inspection of students' cognitive style map selection,
Table 7 (p. l53) indicated that the students' self-awareness figures
approached the theoretical distribution; therefore there was no evi-
dence that they could identify their own cognitive style maps.
Relation: The above finding is pertinent to the question as it
determines that there is no relation and is positive enough not to
allow for any possible relations.

Conclusion: There was no conclusive evidence that students should be

 

left to their own choice regarding the selection of instructional

modes. This does not mean that a student may not “know" what he/she

168

prefers as an instructional mode. What it does suggest is that an
inexperienced student will not intuitively select the mode of instruc-
tion that is best for him/herself. For example, a student might be
unable to understand why he/she is having difficulty with the instruc-
tional mode Printed Materials, when, in fact, he/she might have a minor
or even negligible T(VL) element (ability to find meaning from the
printed word). Hence institutions that offer numerous instructional
modes, as well as those that offer very few, should be concerned with
the assessment of their students' cognitive styles.

Inference: From this conclusion, Hypothesis 9 (to follow) can be

inferred.

Question 6. Can the cognitive style map of the vocational student

be empirically verified?
Findings: The cognitive style map of the vocational student can be
empirically verified. This was accomplished by comparing the anec-
dotal data on each student with the elements of that individual's
cognitive style map. (Refer to the anecdotal observation worksheets
in Appendix A.)
Relation: The above finding is pertinent to the question, but it is a
judgmental finding.
Conclusion: The cognitive style map of the individual vocational stu-
dent can be empirically verified. Individuals' cognitive style maps
were verified by comparing the anecdotal data on each student with the
elements of that individual's cognitive style map. The instructor had

kept a daily anecdotal data log of the students as it related to key

169

elements in their cognitive styles. An observation worksheet was

used to enter pertinent remarks about the mode of instruction and the
observed correlations between the student's behavior and the cogni-
tive style elements and symbols. It must be pointed out that not all
of the elements in a particular student's cognitive style were
necessarily observed. Empirical mapping and verification is an
observation technique, and in this writer's judgment there is adequate
evidence that the cognitive style of the vocational student can be
empirically verified.

On the basis of these results, it was concluded that the
computer-generated cognitive style maps of the vocational students
were valid.

Inference: From this conclusion, Hypothesis 10 (to follow) can be

inferred.

Implications and Clues for Personalizing,Instruction

 

Question 2 broached the issue of obtaining clues for per-
sonalizing instruction. By its very nature, Engineering Design has a
theoretical symbolic orientation. The use of mathematics of design
is based on theoretical symbolic orientation and inference. Design-
ing and drawing machinery employs codifying data and drawing infer-
ences from them. Therefore, educators providing personalized instruc-
tion must use that information. Some clues for personalizing
instruction follow:

l. The first clue provided in the study was that the most
successful students in the first quartile of the PACER test had a

170

strong major element T(VQ) (better than average ability to acquire
meaning in terms of numerical symbols, relationships, and measure-
ments). It would be beneficial to students displaying this element
if the instructor would write the quantitative symbols being used.

It has been said that all engineers and draftsmen talk with a pencil.
This statement becomes all the more important when recognized in its
true context.

2. The second clue was that most students in the first three
quartiles of achievement used a major T(VL) (ability to find meaning
from words seen) in learning. This suggests that reading assignments
and programmed learning devices would be of benefit to these students.

3. All students except one used either a major or minor
T(AQ) (ability to acquire meaning in terms of numerical symbols,
relationships, and measurements that are spoken) orientation in
obtaining meaning from numbers. This suggests that, for the majority
of students in the Engineering Design class, number concepts may be
introduced by teacher demonstrations, group discussions, and media
using recorded messages.

4. The findings indicated there was an almost even balance
across all four quartiles of the PACER achievement test in the T(AL)
element (ability to acquire meaning through hearing spoken words).

An attempt should be made to strengthen this element in the students'
cognitive style.

5. The fifth clue provided by the cognitive style constructs
was that all students used either a major or minor in the element

Q(V) (the ability to perceive meaning through sight). This is not

171

surprising, considering that the class deals primarily with trans-
lating ideas by using drawings and other visual displays. Therefore,
it is suggested that the instructor should use many visual display
methods to help illustrate a point and to augment other reading
activities.

6. A sixth clue provided by the present study was that stu-
dents in all categories of achievement used a major I (individual)
orientation style in obtaining meaning from their surroundings. A
total of 29 students in the study had a major in this category,
whereas only 7 had a minor in the category. Hence individual study
may be appropriate for students in this type of vocational class.

7. One of the elements that was rather mixed in terms of
the number of students subscribing to it was element A (associates).
This is surprising, because in actual observations the students
depended a great deal on the approval of their peers. Nevertheless,
this clue does suggest that class discussion and/or class interac-
tion may be helpful to those students who possess this element of
cognitive style.

8. Another clue for personalizing vocational students'
instruction was mentioned in the answer to question 1. The observed
diversity of individual cognitive styles was indicated in the study.
The suggestion here is that a large range of prescriptive modes of
instruction is probably necessary.

9. The last clue and probably the most obvious is that seven
of the ten students in the first quartile had the element K (deductive

reasoning, or the form of logical proof used in geometry) in their

172

cognitive style maps. In the second, third, and fourth quartiles,
there was only one other major; it was in the third quartile. There
were no minors in any of the four quartiles. The implication is that
successful students, at least in this type of vocational program,
have this type of deductive reasoning ability. These students are
the type who go on to engineering school. Another implication of a
student having the element (K) in his/her cognitive style is that

it might be possible to predict that the student would be a high

achiever in a vocational program such as Engineering Design.

Limitations

An exploratory study does not have the inherent limitations.
an experimental study might possess. However, this is not to say that
an exploratory study is devoid of limitations.

It was noted several times throughout this paper that the
study was not designed to be a hypothesis-testing effort, but rather
that it was intended to provide answers to questions that might
generate hypotheses to be tested in future studies. This is not to
be construed as an apology for the present study's not being an
experimental effort, but to call attention to the importance and
necessity of conducting a study that generates hypotheses rather
than one that is totally experimental.

Before discussing the recommendations of the study, three
limitations should be considered, which are an addition to those pre-
sented in Chapter I. These limitations became evident during the

course of the study and are, therefore, presented now:

173

l. The accuracy of matching the student's cognitive style
to the format of an instructional mode could not be assessed. Future
studies should be addressed to this subject.

2. Not all of the elements of a student's cognitive style
could be verified, because of the monumental amount of work neces-
sary to accomplish this task and also because it was beyond the scope
of the study. This limitation is also left for future researchers to
address.

3, In the literature review, many other areas of cognitive
style were discussed. The writer did not intend to imply that the
cognitive styles contained in the context of the educational sci- _
ences are the only ones worthy of study. Because of the complexity
of the human mind, many variables and styles are interrelated. The

study of these characteristics is also left to future studies.

Recommendations for Further Study
The questions that were initially raised in Chapter I have
been answered. However, a number of conclusions of the study lend
themselves to the generation of hypotheses that might be relevant to
future research. Some hypotheses for further study follow:
Hypothesis l. Successful vocational-technical students can be
(Question l)
identified by certain cultural determinant code
elements in their cognitive styles.
Hypothesis 2. Successful vocational-technical students can be
(Question 1)
identified by certain code elements of modalities

of inference in their cognitive styles.

Hypothesis 3.

(Question 2)

pothesis4
(fiuestion l)

Hypothesis 5.

(Question l)

Hypothesis 6.

(Question l)

Hypothesis 7.

(Question 3)

Hypothesis 8.

(Question 4)

Hypothesis 9.

(Question 5)

174

A successful instructional mode for a vocational-
technical student will have a small number of vari-
ances between the cognitive style elements of the
student and the format of style elements in the
instructional mode.

Successful vocational-technical students can be
identified by certain theoretical symbolic orien-
tation code elements in their cognitive styles.

The presence of a major qualitative code Visual
will predispose a vocational student to be suc-
cessful in the Engineering Design curriculum.

The presence of a major cultural determinant code
Individual will predispose a vocational student

to be successful in the Engineering Design cur-
riculum.

The presence of a major modality of inference code
in deductive reasoning will predispose a vocational
student to be successful in the Engineering Design
curriculum.

The greater the presence of cognitive style ele-
ments in a vocational student's cognitive style,
the more that individual will be predisposed toward
being a successful vocational student.

When knowledgeable students are required to rank

five cognitive style maps on a scale of "most like

Hypothesis 10.
(Question 6)

175

me" to "least like me" (one of which is their own),
their selection will indicate a noticeable bias
toward their own map.

When the elements of the vocational student's
cognitive style map are compared to the indi-
vidual's cognitive style elements contained in
his/her anecdotal evaluation, the correctness

of the cognitive style map will be empirically

verified.

The following hypotheses were formulated from implications

that arose during the course of the study. The review of related

literature was particularly responsible for suggesting some of these

hypotheses:
Hypothesis ll.

Hypothesis l2.

Hypothesis l3.

Considered in the context of the collective cog-
nitive styles of groups of students in terms of
performance, grade point averages are adequate to
differentiate cognitive styles of students in
vocational education programs.

There are significant differences between the
instructor determinations of superior students
and nonsuperior students as they relate to their
cognitive styles.

Vocational students intuitively sense the cogni-
tive styles of their peers and instructor, and

make interpersonal decisions based on their

176

intuitive understanding of the cognitive styles
of others.

Hypothesis l4. Considered in the context of the collective
cognitive styles of groups of employees, the system
or institution determines to a large extent the
cognitive style it wishes to have its successful
employees reflect.

Hypothesis l5. When groups of vocational students are given
instruction in their chosen occupational field
based on their educational cognitive style, they
will have significantly different group means on
the PACER test for their occupational field than
students who were not instructed according to
their cognitive style.

Hypothesis l6. When a group of vocational students is given the
PACER test, there will be no significant differ-
ence in scores between students whose cognitive
styles were matched to an instructional mode and
those whose cognitive styles were mismatched to

the instructional mode.

Some ideas and tOpics for further research in the area of
cognitive style mapping and the educational sciences are as follows:

l. Research in developing a program to implement clues pro-
vided by cognitive style mapping for the personalization of vocational

education instruction needs to be undertaken.

177

2. Research in developing a program to devise methods and
techniques for augmenting cognitive style for vocational students
needs to be completed.

3. Research efforts should be designed to examine the
affective and motivational behavior of cognitive style of the voca-
tional student.

4. The present study should be replicated using a larger
sample from other institutions, to establish a larger group measure
of profiles of similarity in Engineering Design and in other areas of
vocational education.

5. A specific battery of instruments should be identified,
with which to determine potentailly successful vocational students.

6. A pilot program should be instituted to measure the
relative effectiveness of different, identified cognitive and voca-
tional styles among vocational students in diverse economic and
cultural settings.

7. An investigation comparing students enrolled in vocational
area skill centers to those in comprehensive high schools should be
undertaken. Such a study should determine whether there is a corre-
lation between students' cognitive styles and their results on one

of the vocational inventories, such as the Crites Inventory.

APPENDICES

178

APPENDIX A

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEETS

179

001
STUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

9/27/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

11/2/78

11/14/78

11/14/78

11/20/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH) +
Q(CP) +
Q(V) +
Q(P)

APPENDIX A

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Noticed the student reads aloud to himself.

Student worked on project requiring the
interpretation of an unfamiliar machine
layout. Did this with ease.

Student has trouble selecting a project of
his own to do.

During the showing of a silent film the
student was observed sleeping.

Student dislikes playing competitive
sports.

Student enjoyed working on a project with
another student. He was very helpful
toward the other student and assumed the
role of teacher.

Student always goes on break with other
students rather than alone.

Student was given project for the welding
teacher. This project had a strict time

limit on it and the student seemed to enjoy
the responsibility and the pressure of get-

ting the job done within a time frame.

T(AL) ++
T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(C

Q(CK) Q(CK
Q(CS) Q(CT)
0(1) 0(5)
0(0) Q(A)

180

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
T(AL)

Q(V)

>

002
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

10/9/78

10/27/78

11/3/78

11/15/78

11/29/78

T(VL)
T(VQ) +

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)
Q(CP)
Q(V)
Q(P)

181

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student's parents visited the classroom
today. Apparently they were invited by
the student.

Student insists on treating faculty
as though they are "one of the boys."

Have had some problems with the student
doing math homework in class. Have
given student more projects requiring
mathematics.

Student complained about the music
that is being played over the intercom.

Student insists that all of the students
in the class should follow the rules of
the school.

Student refused Opportunity to do a
group project.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) + A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F + D
Q(CS) Q(CT) I + R
0(1) 0(5) L
0(0) Q(A) + (K)

CARL C. MONROE

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
F

OO3
STUDENT

DATE
9/6/78

10/5/78

10/26/78

11/1/78

11/2/78

182

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
In conversation with me, the student T(AL)
indicated to me that he likes to play T(VL)
games. T(AQ)

T(VQ)

Student was observed drawing pictures Q(CES)

rather than working on his project.

Student got very frustrated when the Q(CET)
part he was drawing was lost. Does not
like having the rules changed.

Student must take whatever we are talk- Q(T)
ing about at the time and hold it in his

hands.

Student had difficult time making up L

his mind about what project he wanted
to do next when I gave him the choice.

7<

I

V
HT!)
XPWUZ

004
SIUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

10/23/78

10/31/78

11/13/78

11/21/78

11/22/78

11/22/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)

183

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

The student voiced his displeasure over
having to do regular lettering sheets
and work sheets the same as the rest of
the students.

The student has stated that he likes to
use the sound page with ear phones. Does
not know why but insists that he prefers
to use the ear phones.

Student prefers to work in the library
by himself when he uses the sound page.

Keeps his drawer in perfect order. Has
a place for all his drawing equipment.

The student has shown considerable inter-
est in how an intricate mechanical assembly
goes together and how it functions.

The student stated that he does not like
to watch silent picture strips.

Student has had considerable trouble in
being on time when returning from break.

T(AL) ++

T(AQ) +

Q(CES) Q(CET) - A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) ++ Q(CT) I + R ++
Q(T) Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) ++ (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
Lack of Q(CET)

T(AL)

Q(A)
OICP)

Q(CS)

T(AL)
T(AQ)
Q(A)

Q(CS)

Lack of Q(CTM)

OO5
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

9/15/78

9/9/78

10/2/78

10/26/78

11/8/78

11/29/78

AAAAAA AA
O'U<OOO <<

184

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student enjoys kidding around with the
instructor. Likes a buddy relationship.

Student has to have verbal instructions
repeated many times. He will write it
down and bring it back to me to make sure
it is correct.

Student has told me that he is on the
track team.

Student had problem with another student
which ended in a fight. He came to me
for understanding and support. May be a
problem with Q(CS) or Q(CP).

Student was given the option of working

from a complex layout or from a real part.

He chose the real part.

Student has been picked on lately by
members of the class.

Student has had an excellent record of
attendance and is always on time after
the break period.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) W(CET) A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) + F + D
Q(CS) Q(CT) - I R
Q(T) Q(S) L
(MD) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR
SYMBOLS

Q(CT)

Q'(CT)

Q(CTM)

006
STUDENT

DATE
9/11/78

9/15/78

10/18/78

10/26/78

11/22/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) +
Q(CH) +

185

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE ‘ INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student has shown high degree of commit- Q(CTM)

ment to being on time to class.

Was given an assignment to complete but A
was talked into working on a government

project for one of the students instead

of what he was supposed to be working on.

Other students have indicated to me that Q(C
it is important to them what this stu- Q(C
dent thinks of their actions. Q(C
Q(C
Q(A
Q'(

Student came to me for help on visualiz-
ing an assignment. This seems to be a
consistent problem with him.

Student likes to touch pe0ple he is Q(T)
talking to. Q(CP)
Q(CS)

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A ++ M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F 0
Q(CS) + Q(CT) + 1 R
Q(T) + Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

007
STUDENT

DATE
9/7/78

10/5/78

10/25/78

11/8/78

11/15/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)
Q(CP) -
Q(V)
Q(P)

186

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student is second-year student and
required to select his own project.
Student cannot make decision on what
he wants to work on.

Student is constantly socializing with
his peers.

Student wants to work with other students
but always ends up in a hassle. Does
work well with other students.

Student was caught turning in someone
else's work for his own.

Student had argument with his classmates
today about--he thought that beauty was
so much nonsense.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) + Q(CET) -- A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) U + R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
L

Q'(CP)

A'(CET)

DO
-’-\

CES)
(CET)

008
STUDENT

DATE
9/12/78

9/26/78

10/10/78

11/10/78
10/17/78

10/26/78

11/1/78

T(VL) +++
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)

187
ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student reads every time the Opportunity
is present. Student was reading a novel
in class--very quiet, studious type.

Student has completed several work sheets
on own volition-~they are all reading work
sheets.

Student wanted to talk to me--confided
that she disliked her father, as he is an
alcoholic.

Student is always on time.

Student has indicated that she is leaving
her home and moving into an apartment
with her boyfriend.

Student refused to work on a project
with another student--prefers to work
alone.

Student stays in class during break time--
always by herself.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) + Q(CET) + A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) I +++ R
Q(T) Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

T(VL)
T(VL)
T(CES)
T(VL)
Q(CET)

I
Q(CT)

Q(CTM)
A

Q(CP)

009
STUDENI

DATE
9/13/78

9/22/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

10/25/78

11/1/78
11/3/78

11/6/78

11/15/78
11/20/78

-4-4

AA
< <

2::-

vv
I l

O
A
O
I
V
+

Q(P) +
Q(CTM) --

188

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student has a very difficult time staying
on the job--is almost hyperkinetic.

Student stated that he won the swimming
meet in his division.

Student went out during break to the
parking lot (they are not allowed in the
parking lot). When I asked the student
why he went with the other students, he
said, "because they asked me to."

Student was assigned the project. When I
checked on him later on, he was working on
something else. Could not understand why
he could not work on whatever he wished to.

Student confided in me that he was arrested
for stealing motorcycles while involved in
a gang.

Student is constantly late after break and
quite often late to class.

Student spends too much time talking to
other students.

Student dislikes reading assignments.

Student never finishes assignments on time.

Student tries hard to please authority fig-
ures. Does not follow through as soon as
they are not present.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) --+ A ++ M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) + F + 0
0(cs) Q(CT) 1 R
Q(T) Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR
SYMBOLS

Q'(CET)

010
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

9/20/78

9/27/78

10/10/78

11/8/78
11/14/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) ++
Q(CH) +

189

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student has asked for drawing problems (K)

that involve mathematics.

Student was assigned the project of picking L
his own project. He agonized over this

for some time then once he decided he

moved rapidly to a conclusion.

Student volunteered to help a new student Q(CEM)
that was having problems.
Noticed today that other students have Q(CEM)
begun to ask this student's approval Q(CT)
over peer problems that they are having. Q(CP)
Q(CH)
Student is always on time. Q(CTM)
Student does exceptionally well on all T(AL)
types of tests. T(AQ)
T(VL)
T(VQ)

T(AL) +

T(AQ) +

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) + I R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K) +

011
STUDENT

DATE
9/7/78

9/27/78

10/9/78

10/24/78

11/6/78

11/24/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) +

190

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student was given the responsibility of
picking his own project. Had no problem
at all, and in fact, helped other students
with the problem of selecting their own
project.

Student always goes on break with other
students.

Student pays close attention to lecture
types of discussions.

Student seems comfortable talking to
visitors who are touring the classroom.

Student has good command of his psycho-
motor skills. Does very good line work
and lettering.

Student is very willing to help other
students.

T(AL) +

T(AQ)

Q(CES) + Q(CET) ++ A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) + Q(CT) I R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
Q(O) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

L
Q(CET)
Q(CS)

012
SIUDENT

DATE
9/14/78

9/21/78
10/4/78

10/23/78

11/6/78

11/13/78

11/27/78

T(VL) +
T(VQ)

191
ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET
ENGINEERING DESIGN

COURSE

COMMENTS

Student is having trouble getting along
with his peers.

 

Student usually goes on his break alone.

Student has problems making up his mind
when confronted with a problem that con-
sists of various alternatives.

Student was reading in class for pleasure;
seems to prefer the written word to listen-
ing to lectures or discussions.

Student had a fight during break time
with another student.

Student argued with me today--why he had
to do an assignment (the rest of the class
was doing it with no problems).

Student is constantly absent or late to
class.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F + 0
Q(CS) - Q(CT) - 1 ++++ R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

Q'(CEM)
I

I
L

T(VL)

OOH

(CP)
(CS)
I

F
Q'(CEM)
Q'(CT)
Q'(CTN)

013
STUDENT

DATE
9/25/78

9/26/78

10/20/78

10/31/78

11/22/78

192

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student has problems completing assign-
ments on time.

Student likes to stay in classroom and
remains aloof from his classmates.

Student is having difficulty in learning
how to letter properly.

When the student and I are talking about
an assignment and numbers are mentioned,
he must immediately write them down.

Student has had complaints from student
that shares his desk in the other class
that the student always writes numbers
down on the drawing board cover.

T(AL)

T(AQ) -

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M +
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F 0
Q(CS) Q CT) 1 + R

Q T) Q S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
Q'(CTM)

Q'(P)

T'(AQ)
T(VQ)
Q(V)

T(VQ)
M

O14
STUDENI

DATE
9/8/78

9/28/78

10/17/78

11/17/78

193

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student has had considerable trouble Q'(CTM)

in being on time to class.

Student is very careful in doing his D
drawing assignments. After he has done Q(CET)
an assignment, he completely retraces M

the drawing as he says that he wants it

as perfect as he can get it.

When given an assignment that is complex Q(V)
in visualization, the student has no prob-

lems in grasping the assignment very

quickly.

Student is always with other students
when they go on break.

7<

I

V
H'n>
Xl—JUUZ
++

015
STUDENT

DATE
9/21/78

10/11/78

10/14/78

11/16/78

194

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student is constantly argumentative
with other students, teachers, other
staff (everyone).

Had the student in to inform him of

his grade in class today. He was very
argumentative, but when he realized

that he was in a weak position he com-
pletely changed his tactics and his role
and tried to con me.

Student is late on an extreme basis to
class. Has tried to blame his problems
on his mother.

Student does excellent drawings.

+

XFIUUZ

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

Fl

Q(CKH)

016
SIUDENT

DATE
10/2/78

10/18/78

10/24/78

11/6/78

11/20/78

11/28/78

195

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student asked me about what college to
go to. He is interested in an engineer-
ing school and I discovered that he is
highly qualified in mathematics.

Student voluntarily reads extra projects
for extra credit.

Student had difficulty working with
another student on a group project.

Student is constantly coming in to my
office for help and reassuring on what-
ever job that he has.

Student asked to take home work so that
he could get caught up in an assignment
that he has fallen behind on.

Student stays in class a great deal by
himself.

A
KFJUUZ
V

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
T(VQ)
F

Q(CS)
T(AL)
Q(CET)
I

Q(CET)

017
EN

DATE
9/15/78

9/19/78

9/26/78

10/6/78

10/31/78

11/2/78

11/14/78

11/16/78

T(VL) -
T(VQ) -

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)

196

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS
Noticed that this student reads aloud
to himself.

In checking a drawing by this student
he had many spelling mistakes.

Student has most of the dimensions on
his drawings wrong.

Student cannot work with other students
on projects.

Observed this student cheating during
a test.

Student is always late after break.
Student is absent a great deal.

Today some of the students came to me
and complained about this student
because of his body Odor.

T(AL) +
T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(
Q(CK) Q(
Q(CS) - Q(
T Q(
Q(

000
7:
I
v
H11)

0( )
Q(O)

K7270:

CARL C. MONROE
TNTTRUCTORT'TT'

S

SYMBOLS
T(AL)

T'(VL)
T'(VQ)
M'
Al

Q'(CP)
Q'(CET)

018
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

9/20/78

10/11/78

10/24/78

11/13/78

11/14/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)

197

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN

 

CARL C. MONROE

 

COURSE INSTRUCTOR
COMMENTS SYMBOLS

Student stays by himself most of the I

time.

Student pays close attention during T(AL)

lectures.

Student has started to go on break A

with other students.

Student likes to cite definitions of M

terms when discussing things with other

students.

Student tends to exaggerate contrasts R

when drawing projects.

Student is generally on time. Q'(CTM)

T(AL) +

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A +
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F
Q(CS) Q(CT) I +
Q(T) 0(5)

0(0) Q(A)

+

7:1-2303
+

019
STUDENT

DATE
9/15/78

9/18/78

9/18/78

10/10/78
10/24/78

T(VL) +
T(VQ) +

Q(CEM) +
Q(CH)
0 CP)
O V)

198

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student was assigned task of developing
his own project to work on. After much
agonizing over the problem he finally
decided on what his project would be.
From there on the project progressed
very rapidly.

Student has shown considerable interest
in doing drawings that require consid-
erable difficulty and problem-solving
ability.

When I asked for volunteers to act as
class guides, the student in question
agreed.

Student is always punctual.

Student does exceptionally well on all
types of tests and test situations.

T(AL) +

T(AQ) +

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) I R
Q(T) Q(S) L
Q(O) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
L

+ +

020
SIUOENT

DATE
9/25/78

10/9/78

10/17/78

10/23/78

11/6/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)

199

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

On reviewing student's records, I

found that this student is consistently
late with completing his projects or
does not turn them in at all.

Student is very loud and boisterous in
class, tries to dominate other students.

Student is always late on returning from
break.

Student insists on treating faculty as
though they are one of the boys.

Student looks for school rules to break
as though he must do this to prove him-
self to his peers.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) -- A +++ M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F 0
Q(CS) Q(CT) I R
Q(T) Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

Q'(CTM)
Q'(CET)

Q(CH)
Q'(CTM)

Q'(CET)

021
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

9/21/78

10/23/78

11/3/78

11/27/78

200

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student wishes to please everyone he
comes in contact with.

Student seems uninterested with movie
presentations.

In talk with student, the student indi-
cated he did not like lecture style of
discussions.

Student enjoys working on projects that
involve real things.

Student has everything arranged in his
drawer in terms of categories. This
stresses contrasts.

T(AL) -

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F + D +
Q(CS) Q(CT) I R
Q(T) + Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
A

T'(AL)
Q'(V)
T'(AL)

Q(T)

201

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

 

022 ENGINEERING DESIGN CARLC._MONROE
STUDENT COURSE INSTRUCTOR
DATE COMMENTS SYMBOLS
lO/lO/78 Student would rather talk with faculty F
than with his peers. Seeks out con- Q(CH)
versations with teachers, particularly Q(CT)
his instructor.
l0/l6/78 In discussion with student it was Q(CS)
revealed that he has plans made for his
future well in advance for the next sev-
eral years.
lO/l9/78 The student is generally on time to Q(CTM)
class and after break time.
lO/30/78 Reviewed a complex layout assembly with Q(V)
the student. He could grasp visual
problems with a large degree of accuracy.
ll/l5/78 Student does exceptionally well on tests M
that require reading and the classifica- 0
tion differences and relationships of R
things.
T(VL) T(AL)
T(VQ) T(AQ)
Q(CEM) Q(CES) Q(CET) A M +
Q(CH) + Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D +
Q(CP) Q(CS) + Q(CT) + I R +
Q(V) + Q(T) Q(5 L
Q(P) 0(0) Q(A (K)

Q(CTM) +

023
STUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

9/27/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

11/14/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)
Q(CP)
Q(V) +
Q(P)

202

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student's parents came in for visit.
Student seemed pleased that they were
here.

Student stayed in class during break
and worked on his project.

Student has extremely neat equipment
drawer.

Student comes to me an average of five
times a day for clarification of what
he is working on or just reinforcement
Of his projects.

Student is improving with his abilities
to visualize industrial layouts.

H71)

++
7<PJODZ

+ +

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
F

A'(CS)

Q(V)

024
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

10/9/78

10/27/78

11/3/78

11/15/78

11/29/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) ---
0 CH) ++
0 CP) -
QV) -
Q(P) ++-

203

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE
COURSE INSTRUCTOR
COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student came in late today. His excuse Q(P)
was that he was late at wrestling practice. Q(CKH)
Student is very aggressive with his peers Q(P)
and could be considered by his peers as Q'(CEM)
the class bully. Q'(CP)
Q'(CT)
Q'(CS)
Student's equipment drawer is very messy. R'
Ml
DI
Student is having difficulty in visual- Q'(V)
ization.
Student complained about the quality of Q(A)
the music that the other students selected. Q(CES)
Q(CH)
Q'(CEM)
Student started fight with another stu- A'(CEM)
dent in one of the other classes. Q'(P)
Q(CET)
Q(CH)
Q(CK)
Q(CKH)

T(AL)
T(AQ)

Q(CES) +
Q(CK) +

I
V
+
+
H11)

KT—WUZ

204

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

025 ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE
STUDENT COURSE INSTRUCTOR
DATE COMMENTS SYMBOLS
9/6/78 Student is having considerable diffi- Q'(P)
culty in learning how to do mechanical Q'(CKH)
lettering.
9/27/78 Student's drawings are almost child-like Q'(P)
in line quality, as well as appearance. Q'(CKH)
lO/3/78 Student likes other people to do things M
or activities according to the letter
of the law.
lO/lO/78 Student enjoys using the sound page. TEAL)
Q A
T(VL) T(AL) +
T(VQ) Q(AQ)
Q(CEM) Q(CES) Q(CET) A M +
Q(CH) Q(CK) Q(CKH) -- F D
Q(CP) Q(CS) Q(CT) I R
Q(V) Q(T) Q(S) L
Q(P) -- 0(0) Q(A) + (K)

026
STUDENT

DATE
9/14/78

10/4/78

10/23/78

11/6/78

11/13/78

11/27/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) -+
Q(CH) ++
Q(CP) +
0 V +
Q(P

Q(CTM) +

205

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student is argumentative about every-
thing.

Student does well when confronted with
mathematical problems to solve.

Student was extremely slow in defining a
problem to work on when he was given the
option of making his own selection.

Student has excellent visualization
techniques.

Student has volunteered to be a class
guide.

Student sometimes stays away from the
other students during break.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) + A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F 0
Q(CS) Q(CT) -+ I + R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K) +

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

Q'(CT)
Q(CH)
Q'(CEM)
Q(CET)

(K)

027
STUDENT

DATE
9/4/78

10/9/78

11/3/78

11/1/78

11/29/78

206

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student has very poor visual abilities.
Wonder what he is doing in a drawing
class--though it may help improve his
visualization.

Student resists being pinned down to
an exact answer as he seems to be look-
ing for other probabilities.

Student prefers to work alone rather than
with his peers.

Student stated that he dislikes reading
very much.

Student likes to help other students with
their personal problems.

000
7<
I
V
H'l'l)
+
KFJUDZ

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

imam;
Q'(V)

028
STUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

9/27/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

11/2/78

207
ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET
ENGINEERING DESIGN

COURSE

COMMENTS

Student enjoys listening to the sound
page with the earphones on.

 

Student has very orderly equipment
drawer.

Student spends too much time with his
peers in random discussion.

During the showing of a silent film
the student was observed sleeping.

Student enjoyed working on a project
with another student. He was helpful
toward the student and assumed the
role of teacher.

7<

I

v
H'fl)
KFJUUZ

CARL C. MONROE

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS

T(AL)
Q(A)

029
SIUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

9/27/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

11/2/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH +
09+

208

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student discusses his family a great F

deal. He has indicated that he is Jewish
and they are well known for close family

ties.

Student had a great deal of trouble L
in selecting his project for the semester

grade.

Student always goes on his break with A

other students rather than alone.

Student enjoyed working on a project A
with another student. He was surprised O
that they were allowed to work together Q
for credit rather than alone.

Student indicated that he disliked to Q(CKH)
play in competitive sports, but does
like to participate in sports.

T(AL)
T(AQ)

Q(CES)

7<

I

v

4..
HT!)
++
+
KINUZ

030
SIUDENT

DATE
9/31/78

9/21/78

9/27/78

10/10/78

11/8/78

000000 -l—i

209

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE
COURSE INSTRUCTOR
COMMENTS SYMBOLS
This student does very well on all T(AL)
types of tests. T(AQ)
T(VL)
T(VQ)
I asked the student what he was study— (K)

ing in his mathematics class. Found out
that he is in a course called analysis,
which is the toughest math class they
have in high school. He is doing well
in it and seems to be enjoying mathe-
matics considerably.

Student has difficulty in making decisions L
which involve important decisions to him-

self.

Student can work for long periods of time I
on his projects, and can mix in well A

with his peers.

Student is always on time to class and is Q(CTM)
always on time after break. He turns his

projects in on time or usually before

they are due.

T(AL) +

T(AQ) +

Q(CES) Q(CET) A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) I + R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K)

031
STUDENT

DATE
9/15/78

9/20/78

10/26/78

11/21/78

210

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student says that she prefers things 0

that are Opposite one another.

Student was sent to obtain a tool from A
the janitor's workroom. She wanted to

take one of her friends along with her

just to do this simple errand.

Student was assigned a project. When Q'(CET)
I later checked on her to find out her

progress I found that she decided she

did not like the assigned project and

had decided to work on one of her own

choosing.

Student showed signs of being very Q(CH)
unstable. Would not talk to anyone Q'(CS)
in the class today. Later on she Q'(CT)

completely changed 180 degrees and
was friendly.

T(AL)
T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(C
Q(CK) Q(C
0 CS) - Q(C
Q T) Q 5
0(0) Q(A

KPJUUZ

032
STUDENT

DATE
9/19/78

9/21/78

10/4/78

10/19/78

11/13/78

0400000 --| -I
AAAAAA AA
nv<nnn <<
"IVV'U I rn o '—
sz vv

V
+ +

M) +

211

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student has been turning extra lettering
sheets in.

Student has always been on time from
break and to class in the morning.

Student has done well on all types Of
tests that he has been given.

Student came to me today for advice

on what type of drawing to do. I
decided to let him make up his own

mind after we reviewed the alternatives.
He had considerable trouble grasping
the concept that he was allowed to make
up his own mind and decisions.

Student seems to enjoy his peers, but
he does like to put them down by exert-
ing his superiority.

T(AL) +

0010) +

Q(CES) Q(CET) + A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F D
Q(CS) + Q(CT) - I R
Q(T) (Ms) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C.MONROE

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
Q(CET)

Q(CTM)

T(VL)
T(AL)
T(VQ)
T(AQ)

L
Q(CS)

Q'(CT)

033
STUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

9/27/78

10/3/78

10/18/78

11/2/78

T(VL) --
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)
0 CP)
Q(V)
Q(P)

212

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student compalined about having to do
written assignment involving reading.

Student takes considerable amount of time
to make up his mind about any decision
he has to make. Could be appraisal mode.

Decided to have the student read to me
because of further complaining about
assignments involving reading. Found
that his reading is extremely poor.

Student sometimes goes to break with his
friends and other times he does not want
to be bothered with them.

Student dislikes Sports of any kind.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A - M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) - F D
Q(CS) Q(CT) 1 + R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
Q(O) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
T'(VL)

Q'(CKH)

034
STUDENT

DATE
9/6/78

10/24/78

10/30/78

11/13/78

11/21/78

11/22/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)
Q(CP) +

Q(P

213

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student voiced his displeasure over Q'(CET)

having to do regular lettering sheets
and work sheets the same as the rest
of the class.

Student stated that he likes to use T(AL)
the soundpage. He particularly likes
to use the soundpage with earphones.

Student prefers to work in the library Q(A)

by himself when he uses the soundpage. Q(CP)
I
Q(CS)

Student keeps his equipment drawer in R

very neat order.

Student has shown considerable interest R
in mechanical artifacts. Is constantly
dismembering them, but does have trouble

in putting them back together.

Student does not like to watch silent T(AL)
movie strips. T(AQ)

T(AL) ++
T(AQ) +

Q(CES)

O35
STUDENT

DATE
10/3/78

10/5/78

10/25/78

11/1/78

T(VL)
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) -
Q(CH) +

214

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student went out to the parking lot
during break (they are not allowed in
the parking lot). When I asked the
student why he went to the parking lot
even though he knows it is Off limits,
he said that his friends had told him
to go with them.

Student was assigned a project to do

with some other students. Later when I
checked on him he was doing something else
while the others were doing his job for
him.

Student is usually late to class and
late after break.

Student was very upset because I sent
to his parents a progress report about
his poor performance.

7<

I

V
t—o‘l'l)
+ +
XPJUUZ

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
A

036
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/ 78

9/15/78

10/3/78

10/17/78

215

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student seems to enjoy "putting on" the
male students in the class.

The student is very adept at using body
language.

Student maintains a very neat equipment
drawer.

Student pays close attention to lecturer.

T(AL) +
T(AQ)

Q(CES)
Q(CK) +

X
I
v
HT!)
KING:
4.

CARL C. MONROE
INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
Q(CH)
A

O37
STUDENT

DATE
9/15/78

10/3/78

10/9/78

11/3/78

T(VL) +
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) +

216

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN CARL C. MONROE

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

COMMENTS SYMBOLS
Student was assigned task of developing L

her own project to work on. After a
considerable amount of agonizing over
the problem, she decided on what the
project should be. Progress from this
point on was very sure and rapid.

Student has shown considerable interest (K)
in doing drawings that require consider-
able difficulty and problem-solving

ability.

The student volunteered to act as class Q(CEM)

guide.

Student does exceptionally well on all T(AL)

types of tests and test situations. T(AQ)
T(VL)
T(VQ)

T(AL) +

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M

Q(CK; Q(CKH) F D

Q(CS Q CT) I R

Q(T) Q(S) L +

Q(O) Q(A) (K) +

038
STUDENT

DATE
10/3/78

10/25/78

11/3/78

11/15/78

11/17/78

11/20/78

T(VL) -
T(VQ)

Q(CEM) +
Q(CH) ++
Q(CP) +

217

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION WORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

 

COMMENTS

Student resists being pinned down to an
exact answer as she seems to be looking
for other possibilities.

Student prefers to work alone rather
than with her peers.

Student does not care too much for
reading.

Student is very quiet in class.

Student likes to help other students.

Student likes to help visitors that
come to the class.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) A M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F 0
Q(CS) ++ Q(CT) + 1 ++ R
Q(T) Q(S) L +
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
L

T'(VL)

Q(CH)

O39
STUDENT

DATE
9/13/78

10/3/78

11/1/78

11/3/78

11/6/78

11/15/78
11/20/78

T(VL) -
T(VQ) -

Q(CEM)
Q(CH)

218
ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS

Student has a very difficult time stay-
on his work project--he is not hyper-
kinetic but just the Opposite and
lethargic.

Student was assigned a project. When I
checked on him later, he was working on
something else. He could not understand
why he could not work on what he wished
to. He said that what I assigned was
not important and unnecessary.

Student is constantly late after break
and quite late to class. Student also
has an excessive amount of absenteeism.

Student is spending too much time talk-
ing to other students.

Student dislikes reading assignments.

Student never finishes assignments on time.

Student tries hard to please authority
figures. Does not follow through as soon
as they are not present.

T(AL)

T(AQ)

Q(CES) Q(CET) - A + M
Q(CK) Q(CKH) F + D
Q(CS) + Q(CT) - I R
Q(T) Q(S) L
0(0) Q(A) (K)

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR

SYMBOLS
Q'(CTM)

0' 051)
0' CT)
A(CS)

Q'(CTM)

CTM)

'1"! O o—l—l 03>

O40
STUDENT

DATE
9/8/78

9/15/78

9/9/78

10/2/78

10/26/78

11/15/78

11/16/78

11/20/78

+ +

000000 —I-|

AAAAAA AA

—|'U<C')OO <<

VVV‘UII'TI Ol—
vvz vv

v
+ + + +
+

219

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION NORKSHEET

ENGINEERING DESIGN
COURSE

COMMENTS
Student enjoys kidding around with the

instructor. Likes a buddy relationship.

Student has to have verbal instructions
repeated many times. He will write it
down and bring it back to me to make
sure that it is correct.

Student has told me today that he is on
the wrestling team.

Student had a problem with another
student that ended in a fight. He came
to me for understanding and support.
May be a problem with Q(CS) and Q(CP).

Student was given the Option of working
from a complex layout or from the real
thing; he chose the real part.

Student has had an excellent record of
attendance and is always on time after
the break period.

Student has had a difficult time in making
up his mind when given various options to

choose from.

Student likes to touch people that he is

talking to.

CARL C. MONROE

 

INSTRUCTOR
SYMBOLS

A
F

T(VL)
T(VQ)
Q(V)

Q(CKH)
Q(P)
F

r

000
AAA
on --I
(I) '0‘!
VV

APPENDIX B

COGNITIVE STYLE MAPPING

220

APPENDIX B

COGNITIVE STYLE MAPPING

Classifying the elements of a given set (e.g., Set A) into
two categories included in a second set (e.g., Set B) is a process
mathematicians call "mapping." The notation usually employed for

this process is:

 

A 7‘ B (3)

The notation in (3) indicates a correspondence between the
elements of Set A and those of Set B. In this example, Set A is

called the domain of the mapping, and B the range. Mathematical

 

mappings employ only the theoretical symbols of abstract logic or

mathematics. Empirical mappings involve persons making judgments on

 

a "makes sense" or “does not make sense" basis to classify elements
(e.g., persons, processes, and properties of a social system called
"curriculum") into "logical" categories. This type of decision
making employs not only theoretical symbolic mediations (e.g.,
"words" and "numbers") but demands qualitative symbolic aspects of
reasoning (e.g., "picturing" the solution of a problem) as well. For
example, in order to diagnose (map) the cognitive style "9" of an
individual, the "educational scientist" (e.g., teacher) must consider
the individual's level Of educational development in terms of the
elements included in the Sets S, E, and H, respectively. Empirically,
the diagnostician ("scientist") must decide which elements in the
Sets S, E, and H, respectively, are apprOpriate for inclusion in the

221

222

sub-sets s, e, and h that form the individual's cognitive style.
This approach demands the classification of the elements of S into
two categories: s and S (not s); E into the two categories: e
and e (not e); and H into h and h. The process involved here is
called "empirical mapping." This type of mapping (diagnosis) gag.

only be effected by a person (e.g., educational scientist) classifying

 

the elements involved in a "makes sense," or "does not make sense"

basis. If a mathematical mapping of these elements were desired,

 

there would need to be a logical and theoretical vehicle (e.g., a
formula, or equation) available by which the decision could be derived.
In this case, a person is not actually involved in the decision-making
process associated with the classification. Under these circumstances,
the decision is rendered by performing indicated Operations on the
logical (mathematical) function used to determine the desired outcome.
The point to be made is that the mapping of cognitive styles is mainly
empirical in nature, and as such, is dependent upon the judgments of
persons (diagnosticians) responsible for the process of classifying
the elements of symbolic orientations, "cultural determinants," and
modalities of inference into Cartesian products that represent the
cognitive styles of the individuals under consideration.

The cognitive style of an individual cannot be empirically
mapped without considering: (l) the level of educational development
of the person, (2) the general symbolic conditions of educational
tasks he will be called upon to accomplish, (3) certain antecedents

(e.g., family) to his present state of development, and (4) the

223

appropriateness of the elements under consideration for the condi-
tions under which the educational tasks must be completed. The map-
ping of an individual's style is also affected by the diagnostician's
cognitive style. In this context, diagnostic teams have generally
been able to produce "styles" of higher predictive and concurrent

validity than those "mapped" by the individual diagnostician.

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224

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