The effects of teaching methods and cognitive styles on students\u27 achievement in plane trigonometry

This exploratory study is designed to investigate the integrated effects of teaching methods and cognitive styles on student achievement in plane trigonometry. The two teaching methods, namely, the reinforced-lecture method and the lecture-only method, are compared in the light of differing cognitive styles of the students classified as Sensing and Intuition as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. One hundred first year college students enrolled in different courses were used as subjects of the study. A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent groups involving four-experimental classes was used in the study. Two sections were used as experimental groups with the reinforced-lecture method and the other two sections were used as control groups with the lecture only as the mode of instruction. The researcher handled all the classes using the lecture method as the teaching procedure. However, the experimental groups were provided with study guides and audiovisuals. The four groups were given the pretest, the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, at the start of the experiment. After seven weeks of treatment, the posttest was administered to measure the achievement of the students in plane trigonometry. For statistical treatment, analysis of covariance procedures were utilized with the pretest and IQ raw scores as covariates. The study revealed that the intuitive students tend to perform better than the sensing students. Students who were taught with the reinforced-lecture method achieved higher scores than the students who were taught with the lecture-only method. Interaction between the students\u27 cognitive style and the teaching methods was observed. The sensing students tend to achieve higher scores under the reinforced-lecture method. On the other hand, the intuitive students performed equally well under the two instructional methods