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Algebra homework helper:  It is important to distinguish between cognitive style, school learning style, and home learning style. Unfortunately, these concepts have been confounded both theoretically and empirically. With the development of cognitive psychology and its emphasis on the cognitive processes of perceiving, remembering, and problem solving, a number of investigators conceptualized different aspects of individual cognitive style in information processing and learning. Examples of this approach may be found in the Study Process Questionnaire, Learning Style Inventory, Inventory of Learning Process and in Field Dependence–Independence measures. Investigators of cognitive style did not clearly distinguish between cognitive style and learning style. Moreover, they did not investigate cognitive style as a function of the setting in which learning takes place, in or out of school. It is reasonable to assume that cognitive style characteristics would not differ as a function of setting, but this assumption remains to be empirically demonstrated. Indepth investigations of individual differences in cognitive processing are indeed warranted, but these topics fall beyond the limits of the subject matter in this volume.

Algebra homework helper:  There is a major difference in research on learning style as compared to cognitive style. Research on cognitive style has not focused on the effect of individual interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics on learning. By contrast, research on learning style has focused on the profile of children’s personal–social and situational preferences for learning in the formal school setting. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) that operationally defines and assesses 23 of the conceptualized components of learning style. According to this approach, each person’s learning style consists of a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses on elements that reflect various aspects of the environmental, emotional, sociological, and physical conditions under which a person acquires new knowledge and skills. The Dunn and Dunn learning style model and the LSI are described in detail elsewhere, but a few examples of the approach are in order.

Algebra homework helper:  The environmental elements include high versus low preference for sound or light while learning; the emotional elements, extent of motivation and persistence; the sociological elements, the preference to learn alone or with others; the physical elements, the time of day when one likes to learn and one’s preferred perceptual channel, such as auditory or visual. Dunn summarized the findings of a large number of research studies that demonstrated that when children were allowed to learn in school under conditions that matched their learning style preferences, their academic achievement and their attitudes toward school improved.