Lateral Thinking And Its Relationship To Cognitive Independence For College of Basic Education Students At Mosul University

Abstract

The current research aims to identify the level of lateral thinking among College of Basic Education Students at University of Mosul and to identify the level of cognitive independence among College of Basic Education Students at University of Mosul, and to identify the relationship between lateral thinking and cognitive independence among College of Basic Education Students at University of Mosul. The basic research sample consisted of (480) male and female students who were randomly selected from the departments of College of Basic Education after the departments were also randomly selected by six sections, from each section (80) male and female students, and from each academic stage (20) male and female students. The researchers used the lateral thinking test prepared by (Al-Jourani, 2010) and the cognitive independence scale prepared by (Al-Sharqawi, 2005) after extracting the apparent validity by presenting them to experts and their stability by the method of testing and re-testing. Pearson's correlation coefficient, the one-sample t-test, and the t-test of the significance of the correlation coefficient, the researchers reached the following results:
 1- There is a statistically significant difference between the two arithmetic averages and in favor of the hypothetical average, and this indicates that College of Basic Education Students at University of Mosul have a weak level of lateral thinking.
 2- There is a statistically significant difference between the two arithmetic averages and in favor of the arithmetic mean of the students’ grades, and this indicates that College of Basic Education Students at University of Mosul have a good level of cognitive independence.
 3- There is a positive relationship between lateral thinking and cognitive independence.
 In light of the research results, the researchers identified a number of conclusions, recommendations and suggestions, including:
 1- Lateral thinking has a positive relationship with cognitive independence.
 2- Provide university curricula with activities and training on skills and strategies for developing lateral thinking and training students.
 3- Conducting a similar study to identify lateral thinking relationship with other variables such as (intelligence and achievement).