Teachers' styles of thinking: an exploratory study

The primary objective of this study was to explore whether teachers' teaching styles were consistent with their thinking styles. Participants were 194 (85 male, 109 female) high school and university teachers from Shanghai, China, who responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised (R. J. Sternberg, R. K. Wagner, & L. F. Zhang, 2003) and the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory (E. L. Grigorenko & R. J. Sternberg, 1993). Results suggest that after the author controlled participants' age, gender, length of teaching experience, school level, academic discipline, and average class size taught, teachers' teaching styles were statistically predictable from their thinking styles. The author concluded that thinking and teaching styles are related but different constructs. The author discusses implications for teachers and administrators.