CAN ALL LEARNERS LEARN WITH COGNITIVE TOOLS? THE CASE OF COMPUTER MODELING TOOLS AND COGNITIVE STYLE

Charoula Angeli and Nicos Valanides
University of Cyprus
Cyprus

Two research experiments were designed to investigate the effects of field dependence/independence on learners' performance during complex problem solving with a computer modeling tool. Both experiments showed that field dependence/independence is not value-free because field independent learners were consistently associated with better problem-solving performance. The results also showed that well-designed instructional materials do not always lead to effective instruction and successful performance during problem solving with computer modeling tools for all learners.

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