The Differential Learning Achievements of Constructivist Technology-Intensive Learning Environments as Compared with Traditional Ones: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Different learning environments provide different learning experiences and ought to serve different achievement goals. We hypothesized that constructivist learning environments lead to the attainment of achievements that are consistent with the experiences that such settings provide and that more traditional settings lead to the attainments of other kinds of achievement in accordance with the experiences they provide. A meta-analytic study was carried out on 32 methodologically-appropriate experiments in which these 2 settings were compared. Results supported 1 of our hypotheses showing that overall constructivist learning environments are more effective than traditional ones (ES = .460) and that their superiority increases when tested against constructivist-appropriate measures (ES = .902). However, contrary to expectations, traditional settings did not differ from constructivist ones when traditionally-appropriate measures were used. A number of possible interpretations are offered among them the possibility that traditional settings have come to incorporate some constructivist elements. This possibility is supported by other findings of ours such as smaller effect sizes for more recent studies and for longer lasting periods of instruction.