Cognitive Anomalies and Their Relationship to Formal Thinking among University of Baghdad Students

Abstract

The present study seeks to explore cognitive anomalies and formal thinking, and to examine how both relate to the level of academic achievement among students in the Kindergarten Department. The research focused specifically on third-year students in the Kindergarten Department, College of Basic Education at Al-Mustansiriya University during the 2021–2022 academic year.

Adopting a descriptive correlational design, the study targeted a research population of 81 third-stage students from the department. To achieve its objectives, the researcher developed three instruments: a formal thinking test comprising 40 items, a cognitive anomalies scale consisting of 56 items, and an achievement level scale containing 25 items. The psychometric properties of these tools were carefully verified, including indices of difficulty, discrimination power, and reliability. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

The findings indicate that third-stage students demonstrate measurable levels of formal thinking, cognitive anomalies, and academic achievement. These results may be attributed to students’ active pursuit of knowledge, their engagement with modern communication technologies, and the influence of a social environment that often shapes ideas as fixed assumptions. Additionally, students’ active participation in research and learning processes appears to contribute to improved achievement outcomes.

Based on these results, the researcher concludes that third-stage students possess adequate levels of formal thinking, cognitive balance, and academic achievement, supported by the acquisition of relevant knowledge, concepts, and learning strategies. The study recommends that university professors in colleges of basic education place greater emphasis on designing subject questions that assess formal thinking skills, with the aim of enhancing students’ performance in this area. Besides, the researcher proposes conducting a comparative study examining cognitive anomalies among students in public and private colleges.