Knowledge application orientation, cognitive structure, and achievement

Purpose. This study investigated the relationships between three constructs: knowledge application orientation, cognitive structure, and achievement. The main goal of the research was to contribute information about how and why variations occur in the learning process. The study was conducted from the perspective that research about domain-specific cognitive structure should acknowledge domain-independent variables because both domain-specific and domain-independent factors are important in most learning situations.;Procedure. Forty undergraduate students enrolled in the University of Northern Colorado Teacher Education program were assessed through a knowledge application orientation self-report measure, a concept mapping technique and an achievement test. Relationships between the independent variable (knowledge application orientation) and four dependent variables (number of valid links within knowledge hierarchies, conceptual and factual propositions between concepts, and achievement in a content domain) were examined by testing four a priori hypotheses through one-way analyses of variance.;Findings. The tests indicated that knowledge application orientation (heuristic vs. algorithmic) was not significantly related to the number of valid links within knowledge hierarchies. This finding was contrary to the expectation that heuristically-oriented students would reflect more concept connections. Failure to support the hypothesis was explained in reference to theoretical assumptions for the prediction.;The heuristically-oriented and algorithmically-oriented students were found to significantly differ in the average number of conceptual and factual propositions between concepts. As expected, the heuristically-oriented students showed a higher number of conceptual propositions whereas the algorithmically-oriented students showed a higher number of factual propositions. These findings contributed support for validity of the knowledge application orientation construct as well as the measure used to assess preference for the use of algorithms vs. heuristics. Results were interpreted according to theory about differences between constructive and reproductive intellectual skill capabilities.;Groups were not found to differ in achievement for the content domain. It was expected that heuristically-oriented students would show significantly higher scores on an achievement test compared to the algorithmically-oriented students. While the theoretical bases indicated that the hypothesis was plausible, failure to support the prediction was examined in reference to the skills assessed by the achievement measure.