Cognitive style identifies the ways individuals react to different situations. Cognitive styles include stable attitudes, preferences, or habitual strategies that distinguish the individual styles of perceiving, remembering, thinking, and solving problems. Intended for researchers, psychologists, child development specialists, and early childhood educators, this book provides information to aid in understanding the nature of children's cognitive style. It uses that understanding to improve the learning activities provided to children, to help improve the teaching of children, and, ultimately, to improve their learning in school. The book's contents are designed to help teachers deal with the individual differences that are found among the children in their classes, especially in regard to the ways that children perceive the world and make sense of it. Part one of the book provides background information to describe cognitive style, its effects on the teaching-learning situation, and how to formally and informally assess cognitive style. Part two deals with student learning. This part describes field dependent (FD) and field independent (FI) students in a classroom situation, their learning behaviors, and how field dependence independence (FDI) influences the early childhood curriculum, including social situations. Part three of the book deals with the teachers' instruction, describing FD and FI teachers in a classroom situation, their instructional behaviors, and the consequences of matching teachers and students. Part four provides researchers and educators with future directions, including how early childhood teachers can be better prepared to meet students' individual differences and how cognitive style can improve educational practice. Contains 379 references.(Author/SD)