Students used their constructed patterns to choose the examples. This example was more elongate than the other images and not shiny. However, a distinct longitudinal line was present. Perhaps more examples presented in the original task might help students focus on the unique characteristics. Partistic learners focus on just certain attributes of the provided data.
Holistic learners use strategies to keep most of the provided data in mind.
The students had the opportunity to view the images in two ways. They viewed a set of examples then a set of non-examples to create a situation for partistic thinking. They also viewed a set that had alternating examples and non- examples for holistic thinking. We asked students to document their preference for how these sets of images are displayed. Table 3 shows the percentage of students who prefer either a partistic or a holistic strategy.