Aptitude, Previous Achievement, and Cognitive Style: Relation to Academic Achievement in Nursing Courses of Differing Content

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ABSTRACT The questions studied were whether a) cognitive style might predict differential success in nursing courses having a different specialty content focus and b) whether after the inclusion of aptitude measures and previous achievement measures FDI cognitive style would significantly increase the prediction of academic achievement in nursing courses of differing specialty content. Senior baccalaureate nursing students completed the Group Embedded Figures Test as a measure of field-dependence-independence (FDI) cognitive style. Aptitude and achievement scores were obtained from students' files and instructors' grade sheets. The findings were that FDI cognitive style is not a predictor of differential academic success. The junior nursing grade point average was the best predictor of achievement in senior ievel nursing courses. The prediction of academic achievement of nursing students has received researchers'attention over the years in an attempt to identify data that might aid in the establishment of selection criteria, in program and curriculum planning, and in the establishment of remediation or supportive programs for enrolled students who have been identified as high risk. In most studies, affective factors alone, such as personality characteristics and vocational interests, have not been found to be predictors of academic achievement. Most researchers have found that previous achievement or aptitude measures are the best predictors of nursing course achievement (Schwirian, 1976; Grant, 1986). While previous achievement and aptitude measures may be used in the selection process, they are not helpful in giving direction for planning teaching-learning experiences. Cognitive style might serve this purpose if it was found to be predictive of academic achievement. Messick (1976) defines cognitive style as "consistent individual differences in ... ways of organizing and processing information and experience" (p. 5). If the cognitive style of individual students is found to be related to overall academic achievement or to academic achievement in courses of differing specialty content, educators could seek ways of structuring the educational environment to maximize achievement for students of differential abilities. Among the several cognitive styles identified, one of the most extensively researched is that of field-dependenceindependence (FDI), most commonly measured by some variant of the Embedded Figure Test or the Rod-and-Frame Test. The tendency to rely primarily on internal referente to structure situations in a self-consistent way is designated a field-independent cognitive style while the tendency to give greater credit to external referente in structuring situations is designated a field-dependent cognitive style (Witkin, 1978). Witkin and his associates studied this style extensively, and by 1978 had compiled bibliographies of over 3000 reported studies (Cox & Witkin, 1978; Witkin, Cox, Freidman, 1976; Witkin, Cox, Freidman, Hrishekeson, & Siegal, 1974; Witkin, Oltman, Cox, Erlichman, Ham, & Ringler, 1973; Goldstein & Blackman, 1978; Goodenough, 1976; Witkin, 1976; Witkin, Moore, Goodenough, & Cox, 1977) relating field-dependence-independence, a perceptual dimension, to personality factors, educational-vocational interests, course selection, and performance in a variety of areas. FDI continues to be a focus of researchers as evidenced by the large number of reported studies that continue to be listed in indexes such as Psychological Abstracts. While Witkin, et al. (1977) found that field-dependent and field-independent students do not differ significantly on the overall achievement measure of college grade point average, it was hypothesized that they are likely to differ on the courses they select which contribute to the same grade point average. In their longitudinal study (Witkin, Moore, Oltman, et al., 1977) they found college students whose original choice of college major was incongruent with their cognitive style tended to shift to more compatible areas, while students with congruent choices tended to remain with their choices. In addition, the researchers examined the relationships between the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) scores and grades in selected introductory courses of an entire class of 1548 undergraduate students.

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