Abstract

LOPEZ VARGAS, Omar; IBANEZ IBANEZ, Jaime  and  CHIGUASUQUE BELLO, Efraín. Cognitive Style and Learning Goals Setting in Computational Environments. Pensam. psicol. [online]. 2014, vol.12, n.1, pp.133-148. ISSN 1657-8961.

Objective. To explore the influence of cognitive style, in the field dependence - independence dimension, on the setting, fixing and accuracy of learning goals, and at the same time to determine this influence on high school students' expected learning achievement during their interaction with a hypermedia environment -called "Softri"- designed for solving problems related to rectangular triangles. Method. 85 tenth grade students from a state school in Bogotá, Colombia, took part in the study. The EFT (Embedded Figures Test) was used to measure cognitive style. Academic achievement was indicated by evaluations administered by the computational environment, and the goals selected by the students were registered by the software "Softri". An Anova analysis was carried out to establish the presence of significant differences between academic achievement and goal setting for different groups of students, according to their cognitive style. Results. The results showed that independent field students set higher goals and are more accurate with respect to their expected learning achievements. Conclusion. It is possible to establish that independent field students have higher beliefs of control over their own learning process. They probably have higher internal locus of control. It is also possible for these students to have higher levels of academic self-efficacy since they set more demanding goals. These behaviors may be associated to a greater capacity for self-regulated learning.

Keywords : Cognitive style; learning goals; hypermedia; self - regulated learning.

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