Cognitive Flexibility of Students Learning with Constructivist Learning Environment Model Enhancing Cognitive Flexibility in Higher Education

Abstract

Cognitive flexibility is an individual competency for solving complicated problems. It uses flexibility to weigh multiple alternatives in solving a problem. It also involves the capacity to adapt knowledge in other situations, which is necessary, especially in the fields that deal with complicated problems. This study was aimed to examine the learner mechanisms of cognitive flexibility using the constructivist learning environment model at a tertiary level, in which cognitive flexibility was enhanced. The target group comprised 43 students who enrolled in the course, 410201 System Analysis and Design under the computer education program during the second semester of 2010 at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University. A pre-experimental design was employed. Using the One-Shot Case Study method, qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The quantitative data was statistically analyzed using means and standard deviations, whereas protocol analysis and interpretation were used to analyze the qualitative data. The findings indicated the cognitive flexibility of the learners was found at a moderate level (X 14.97, S.D. 2.61). Interview results revealed three stages in the learners’ cognitive flexibility mechanisms, namely: (1) knowledge selection, (2) knowledge deconstruction, and (3) adapted knowledge reconstruction.