A Comparison of Pupil Learning and Achievement in Computer Aided Learning and Traditionally Taught Situations with Special Reference to Cognitive Style and Gender Issues

Abstract

This article is concerned with comparing learning and achievement in the context of computer aided learning (CAL) and traditionally taught environments. The results of a small‐scale study involving 49 Year 10 pupils from a school in the north‐east of England are reported. Cognitive style, gender, attitude to CAL, and test results from a unit of work that used a CAL package and one that used traditional teaching material are analysed and conclusions are drawn. The study was too small to enable generalisations to be made although it did provide an informed picture suggesting that there are differences in how well a pupil may learn and perform in different teaching situations and that these differences are more marked for pupils of certain cognitive styles and/or gender.

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School of Education & Lifelong Learning, Forster Building, Chester Road, Sunderland SR1 3SD, UK. Email: [email protected]

Discriminative power is its ability to discriminate between responses of the upper quartile (25%) of respondents, and the responses of the lower quartile (25%) within the attitude test (Robson, 1993).

An analysis of the ratio of boys to girls in each science set indicated that the gender distribution was fairly even − 57% of the class was boys in the top set, 47% in the middle set, and 54% in the bottom set.