Thinking Styles of School Teachers and University Students in Mathematics

Abstract

This research studied the thinking styles of 18 school teachers and 15 college students in the field of mathematics, using the Inquiry Mode Questionnaire by Harrison and Bramson. The multivariate analysis of variance showed that the 21 female teachers and college students scored as more Idealistic than their 12 male peers. There also was a significant group-by-sex interaction, which indicated that the female college students preferred the Analyst thinking style more frequently than their male peers, whereas the male teachers preferred the Analyst style more frequently than the female teachers. On the whole, the most preferred thinking style was the Analyst style, and the least preferred one was the Synthesist style. The implications of findings are discussed.