This study explored the influence of cognitive style and gender on students’ interest, achievement and retention in Geography in Nsukka Education Zone. The study adopted Quasi-experiment design. The population of the study comprised 5247 males and female senior secondary school class-two (SS2) students in the 59 public secondary schools in Nsukka educational zone. The sample for the study comprised 105 senior secondary school class-two (SS2) students made up of 48 males and 57 females from four public secondary schools in the zone draw using multistage sampling technique. Three sets of instruments were used for the study: Oltrain, Raskin, Herman and Witkin (1971) Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) adopted by the researcher, Geography Interest Scale (GIS) and Geography Achievement Test (GAT). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses formulated at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that there is significant difference in the mean interest, achievement and retention scores
of students with field dependent and field-independent cognitive styles in Geography in senior secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone. Based on the findings, the study recommended that schools should adopt cognitive style patterns (field-dependent and field-independent) in teaching and learning Geography in senior secondary schools.

Keywords: Achievement, Cognitive Style, Geography, Interest, Retention