CHAPTER 1
 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

 Background of Study

 This study examined relationships between dissimilar cognitive styles (Kirton,

2003), stress, motivation and classroom engagement at the University of Florida.

Educators have long known through pragmatic and empirical evidence that students learn

in a variety of styles. Many assessments of learning styles and personality have been

developed to determine how students interact with and process the learning environment.

All learning style theories share in common the contention that learning improves in

learning environments that match a student's learning style (Coffield, Moseley, Hall and

Ecclestone, 2004). Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted to assess the

interaction between the learning style of the student and the learning style of the

instructor; nor the positive and negative effects from this interaction. Cognitive style as

defined by Kirton may offer insight into how a style of learning influences other variables

in the college classroom. Using the Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI), the

researcher determined the cognitive style of undergraduate students and university

instructors in the college classroom. The interval difference between an individual

student's cognitive style and the instructor's cognitive style yielded a cognitive style gap

score (Kirton). Individual cognitive style gap scores were compared to other student

variables including student stress, motivation, engagement, and selected demographics.