COGNITIVE STYLES, PERSONALITY FACTORS PROBLEM‐SOLVING SKILLS AND TEACHING APPROACH IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

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Abstract
In this investigation a comprehensive test of problem‐solving skills and attitudes in electrical engineering was administered pre‐course and post‐course to two groups of undergraduates at the University of Salford (Group 1 total N = 40, Group 2 total N = 38) who followed laboratory courses which involved contrasting teaching approaches. Group 1 followed a course which adhered quite rigorously to a structured sequence of experimentation, while Group 2 followed a course which was not so oriented. This course placed greater emphasis on self‐initiated learning. As a means of control of basic extraneous variables, tests of intelligence, personality and cognitive styles were also administered to the subjects. Analysis of the results showed that while there were significant increases between pre and post‐course scores in the case of both groups, the difference in favour of Group 2 was statistically significant. This suggests that the teaching approach followed by Group 2 was the most effective in this study. However, a sub‐division of the groups into United Kingdom and overseas students showed that in the case of Group 1 the overall .increase between the pre‐course and post‐cours scores for the overseas students was significantly greater than that for the United Kingdom students. This trend was significantly reversed in the case of Group 2, suggesting that as a group the United Kingdom students responded best to this approach while the overseas students responded best to the more closely structured approach. The mean scores of the United Kingdom students were greatest in all cases. The results were qualified in some degree by the effects of intelligence, cognitive style and personality, however. Positive correlations were obtained between the measures of intelligence, cognitive styles, A‐level results and the performance measure – the test of electrical engineering skill. The best overall single predictor was the AH6 test of intelligence, while the best A‐level predictor was chemistry. A summation of the variables increased these correlations however, and balance in score between convergence and divergence, rather than sheer level in either, was the most important predictor identified in this study.