Comparative consideration of relationship between high-school girls and boys thinking styles and their academic achievement

The objective of this article has been to survey the thinking styles among students & its relationship with the academic achievement, their gender and age in terms of the social psychology. The required data was collected from a sample including 602 students (386 girls & 316 boys) of second & third grades of high-schools in the cities of Fars province through a multistage stratified–cluster random sampling method and by Strenberg Thinking Style Scale (1997).

Minimum correlation between the items of the instruments and percent of scales alpha were 34% & 66%, respectively, representative of high validity of the instruments. The research data analysis was carried out by descriptive statistics through t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and at last through the multivariate regression (stepwise method).

The research findings indicated that:

1. Frequently, the subjects, with respect to attitude aspect, were conservative and from the viewpoint of the functional thinking were often subjected to rules and executives of instructions and in terms of level were global.

2.The relations of students general thinking style with academic achievement and age was non-significant but to gender, was significant and the girls thinking style scores was more than the boys thinking scores (r=2.193, p= 0/022) and the boys in comparison to the girls, were more global, more conservative and more legislative. 

3. In general, the more the liberal attitude of students, the more their academic achievement. This conclusion was applicable for the boys (r=0/226, p < 0/001), but it had no justification for the girls. Furthermore, the boys that in the functional dimension had more judicial thinking have been more successful in education (r=0/117, p < 0/042), in contrast, it is incorrect for the girls.

4. For girls, there was no significant relation between general thinking style & its dimensions and academic achievement. The strongest explanation of the girls academic achievement has been their ages with a negative correlation.

5. Among students (the girls & the boys), those who were older, had more academic wastage too (r=-0/161, p < 0/001). Also by increase in the age, particularly their executive thinking (obedience) (r=0/099, p < 0/015) and conservative attitudes have increased (r=0/130, p < 0/001). Its a noticeable point that in functional dimension, along with increase in the age, the boys have been more judicial (r=0/128, p < 0/024), but the girls were more executive (more obedient) (r=0/164, p < 0/008).

6. The factors of age, liberal thinking and gender, respectively, have had a fundamental effect on predicting the students academic achievement (R=0/221, R2=0/049, n=558, Ad R2=0/04). Those students have had more academic achievement, in comparison with their classmates, who have been 1)younger and in their own educational age; and 2)those who have had more liberal attitudes; and 3)those who have been girls.

7.The factors of liberal thinking style and age, respectively, have had fundamental effect on predicting the boys academic achievement that, by having 27% of correlation in all, could have explained about 7% variance of the boys academic achievement (R=0/265, R2 =0/070, n =300, Ad R2 =0/064).