Field cognitive tendency refers to an individual's tendency to choose a reference point in cognitive activities. Hermann Witkin classified them as field-independent and field-dependent. Field-independent individuals tend to use their own internal frameworks and criteria to understand and evaluate information, whereas field-dependent individuals are more inclined to form perceptions and make decisions based on cues from the external environment. This study found that there is a correlation between field cognitive tendencies and academic achievement in geography, i.e., field-independent students are more likely to achieve excellent geography grades, but this correlation is limited and not a determining factor. On the other hand, field-independent students' achievement in physical geography had a more significant positive correlation with their cognitive tendency, while field-dependent students' achievement in human geography showed a stronger positive correlation. Not only that, the presence or absence of maps on geography questions had different effects on students with different cognitive dispositions, with field-dependent students having an increased ability to score on questions with maps, whereas field-independent students relied less on visual aids. Based on this, geography teachers should recognise that total geography achievement is affected by a variety of factors, and adopt diverse measures to improve students' geography achievement. In addition, they should respect students' individual differences and use differentiated teaching strategies to promote students' all-round development. At the same time, assessment experts should take into account differences in cognitive tendencies when designing geography test questions, so as to ensure that students' mastery of geography knowledge and skills is measured more accurately and objectively.

Jinming Yu. Interaction between field cognitive tendencies and academic performance in geography among high school students. Frontiers in Educational Research (2024) Vol. 7, Issue 7: 202-209. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2024.070730.

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