Scientific sense-making is a process in which theory and evidence are brought into coordination. This work examines the conditions for the development of scientific sense-making in fifth and sixth grade classroom science lessons. Classroom activities that were structured as a series of presentations are compared with activities structured more as…

To determine whether or not a statistically significant relationship existed between the learning styles and reading achievement of sixth-grade students in the State of Alabama a battery of four learning style inventories (Gregorc Style Delineator, Hunt Paragraph Completion Method, Renzulli-Smith Learning Style Inventory, and Carbo Reading Style…

A study compared cognitive style (field dependence/independence) and learning style (reflection/impulsion) with reading achievement. Twenty-six sixth grade students were administered the group Embedded Figures Test to determine field dependence/independence and the Matching Familiar Figures Test to determine reflective and implusive students.…

The study found that although field independent and field dependent sixth grade students had equal prior knowledge of economic concepts, field independent students learned more than field dependent students from "Trade-Offs." Males were more field independent than females. Although males scored higher on the posttest, the difference was…

A sample of 503 sixth-grade students participated in a study assessing the relationship between modality of inference and spelling achievement. Each student completed the Dictation Spelling Test and the Modality of Inference Instrument; scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were also available. The Modality of Inference Instrument was…

A study examined an assumption commonly held by many smoking prevention programs that social skills can affect the onset of tobacco smoking. Data from 129 sixth graders were used to predict smoking behavior 15 months later. Five skill variables emerged as the best predictors of future smoking. (Author/CB)

The relationship between intelligence, field dependence, leadership, and self-concept was studied in 88 sixth grade boys. Field independence, as measured by the Group Embedded Figures Test, was related to intelligence and self-concept. Analytic subjects exhibited more leadership than global subjects, while IQ did not differentiate subjects on any…

Effects of cognitive style matching on interaction patterns in teacher-student dyads were investigated. Cognitive similarity/dissimilarity was not associated with the interaction patterns. Dyadic interaction was affected by factors including cognitive style and sex of teachers and students and contextual factors, particularly whole class v…

A survey of teachers in an elementary school building and a literature review indicated that the causes of the lack of individualizing student learning were related to class size, poor leadership, teacher training, and poorly developed learning style instruments. A practicum was designed for classroom teachers to recognize differential learning…

The Group Embedded Figures Test and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were administered to 222 sixth grade students to explore the relationship between field-dependent/field-independent cognitive styles and reading achievement; scores from the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests were used to control IQ. The 60 students with the highest scores and the…

Mean response times and slope of response times were correlated with intelligence and achievement for 94 sixth-graders. Mean response time reliability was greater than that of slope, and correlated significantly with IQ and achievement. Speed of processing information generalized across experimental tasks and reliably indicated intellectual…

Performance of 142 sixth graders in modular technology education using multimedia was significantly predicted by quantitative and verbal ability and prior knowledge. Cognitive style and intrinsic motivation had less significant relationships with performance. Identification of low verbal ability and lack of prior knowledge could improve students'…

At a middle school in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, administrators and teachers used the cognitive domain of the National Association of Secondary School Principals' Learning Style Profile to design "products" that helped compensate for underachieving sixth and seventh graders' skill deficits in mathematics and science. Success…

Creative thinking styles of Native American students were investigated to determine the existence of creativity as a homogeneous trait among this culture. Seventy-nine Cherokee students in grades 4 and 6, attending a small rural school in eastern Oklahoma, were administered the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking--Figural Form A. Thirty-eight…

Using 418 sixth-graders in Jamaica, sex, family size, birth order, occupational level, father's presence, preference for conceptual style, field dependence, reading achievement, and mental ability were examined in relationship to mathematics achievement. Mental ability, reading achievement, and family size, in that order, were found to predict…