The applicability of Kirton Adaption-Innovation theory to the flight instruction environment of higher education

This study examined the impact of cognitive style preference, as defined by Dr. Michael Kirton's Adaption-Innovation (A-I) theory, on aviation flight instruction in the context of a higher education setting. The instrument associated with A-I theory measures an individual's cognitive style preference on a scale ranging from highly adaptive to highly innovative. The researcher surveyed 347 current students and alumni (and their respective flight instructors) of the Indiana State University Aerospace Technology department to include the instrument associated with A-I theory (The KAI). In this study it was determined that those current and future aviation professionals surveyed from Indiana State University had a notably more adaptive cognitive style preference than the general population, according to the tenants of A-I theory. In addition, it was determined that the study's subjects also have a unique factor-trait preference as measured by A-I theory. The three factor traits which comprise A-I theory are Sufficiency of Originality (S/O), Efficiency (E), and Rule/Group Conformity (R). This study also examined the one-on-one interaction of flight students and their flight instructor to see if students with similar cognitive styles train more efficiently and those with notably different scores, a concept known as cognitive gap, train less efficiently. It was found that there are significant effects on flight training efficiency when certain factor-trait score gaps occur between student and instructor but no significant effects were noted when examining the overall cognitive style score gap. The study includes curricular recommendations for aviation students based on their cognitive style preference.