The effects of cognitive styles on naive impetus theory application degrees of pre-service science teachers
Date
2014Source Title
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
Print ISSN
1571-0068
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Volume
12
Issue
4
Pages
699 - 719
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
213
views
views
243
downloads
downloads
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship
between pre-service science teachers’ Field Dependent or Field Independent (FD/FI) cognitive
styles and the application of degrees of naive impetus theory. The sample consisted of 122 preservice
science teachers (97 females and 25 males) who were enrolled in the Introductory
Physics course required by the Science Education program. Data were collected in two
successive years, after the completion of the required Introductory Physics undergraduate
courses, in 2008 and 2009. The Group Embedded Figure Test and Impetus Theory
Application Test (a two-tier-type test) were administered to assess the FD/FI tendency of
students and to determine the degree students applied the naïve impetus theory, respectively.
Initial results showed that a majority of students had made use of the native impetus theory
repeatedly. The results also indicated that the degree to which students applied the naïve
impetus theory was statistically related to their FD/FI cognitive styles. The findings of this
research showed that there existed a statistically significant difference between the FI and FD
students’ degree of applying the naïve impetus theory in favor of FI students. However, the test
score gap between FI and FD students remained almost constant regardless of the testing
instruments utilized in this study.
Keywords
Field independent/field dependent cognitive stylesNaïve impetus theory
Pre-service science teachers