Academic Achievement in Students with Field Dependent/Independent Cognitive Styles

this research compared the effects of two teaching methods on the academic achievement of female stu- dents with different cognitive styles (field dependent/fie- ld independent). Based on a Quasi experimental design, 105 students from Islamic Azad University, responded to Wit- kin's Group Embedded Figures Test (witkin et al, 1971) and a researcher-devised test that measures the participant's discrimination between the figure, and background and their academic achievement. During the academic semesrer following the administration of the questionnaires, the sa- me course was taught to experimental group (n=43) by pro- blem solving method and the control group (n=62) was taught by lecturing. In the post-test, the same tests were a- gain administered to both groups. Findings showed the si- milar effects of different teaching methods on student's cog- nitive style scores, and suggested that problem solving me- thod did not influence the academic achievement of expe- rimental group with different cognitive styles (field depen- dent/independent).