Exploring the relationship between cognitive thinking style, working memory, and arithmetic fluency: a gender-based...

The current study investigated the gender-specific relationship between cognitive thinking styles (CTS) and arithmetic fluency, controlling for working memory. It focuses on two specific CTS-Inchworm and Grasshopper (Bath et al. 1986). Grasshoppers are intuitive and holistic, often skipping steps for efficiency, while Inchworms take a methodical, step-by-step approach and document their processes (Chinn 2020). The sample included 290 students (143 males, 147 females) from grades IX and X in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Preliminary t-test analyses revealed significant gender differences. Specifically, male students (M = 19.69, SD = 5.68) displayed more Grasshopper-oriented thinking than females (M = 15.98, SD = 4.03), and also outperformed them in arithmetic fluency (M = 89.83, SD = 20.35 vs. M = 85.01, SD = 19.10). However, for the working memory test, females (M = 17.40, SD = 3.78) outperformed males (M = 16.27, SD = 3.38). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, for males, CTS significantly predicted arithmetic fluency, β = 0.36, 95% CI [0.74, 1.86], p < 0.001, even after controlling for working memory. For females, however, only working memory predicted arithmetic fluency, β = 0.41, 95% CI [1.38, 2.82], p< 0.001, with CTS showing no significant relationship. These findings highlight gender-specific pathways through which CTS and working memory influence arithmetic fluency, suggesting the need for differentiated learning strategies in learning mathematics.