Interaction of General Reasoning Ability and Processing Strategies in Geometry Instruction.

Researchers have conducted many aptitude x treatment interaction (ATI) studies since Cronbach (1957) first articulated the general ATI hypothesis. Cronbach and Snow (1977) reviewed more than 400 such studies in their treatise on aptitudes and instructional methods. One salient point is evident from their review: Interactions between aptitudes and instructional treatments do exist (McLeod, 1978). ATI research promises a better understanding of the relationships among aptitudes, curriculum content, and treatment variables in their effect on achievement. This experiment was designed to clarify the nature of the relationship between certain aptitudes (general reasoning ability and gestalt and analytic strategies of processing spatial tasks) and treatment variables in their effect on the transfer of learning in mathematics.