Subtraction Performances of Primary School Prospective Mathematics Teachers Having Different Cognitive Styles

Abstract

Cognitive styles defined as the way by which individuals prefer to use in order to obtain, edit, utilize, remember the information are discussed as the indication of individual differences in many studies. The study aims to investigate behavioral data of mathematics teacher candidates categorized according to their cognitive styles while they perform subtraction operations with small and big numbers. Participants of the study were 30 teacher candidates, 15 of whom have field-dependent cognitive style while 15 of whom have field-independent cognitive style. Obtained data was analyzed in terms of accuracy and reaction time according to the cognitive style. When it was investigated in terms of accuracy, it was found that there was a significant difference between groups according to only small numbers. In terms of reaction type, however, two groups did not differ in terms of both small and big numbers. Moreover, it is seen that field-dependent participants spent more time while they solve subtraction operations with big numbers.