The aim of the research was to determine whether there were any significant differences between two groups of students that were trained with two different learning environments:  one group was trained with a computing environment that address the concept of density in a fragmented way (disarticulation of the concept and decontextualized problem-solving), and the second group was trained with a computing environment that takes an integrated approach to the concept (concept integration and contextualized problems). The quasi-experimental project worked with two groups of students of 12 years old. Group equivalence was studied using Student’s t-test, which found that there were no significant differences in the students’ background knowledge.

The research was conducted over two weeks’ time. Initially, each of the groups was given a guide with theoretical and experimental section. The theoretical section was designed to explore the preliminary concepts, and the experimental section was designed to trigger cognitive conflict. When the students completed the experimental part, they socialized the results. Each group was then trained to use the computing environment. After training, the teacher posed a series of questions related to the concept studied in the session. Lastly, a written test was undertaken by the students, the test consisted of 12 density problems. The results were operationalized using evaluation criteria that were designed specifically for each problem. The results showed significant differences in the way the two groups solved density problems. The differences favoured the students who were trained with the integrated computing environment.

2013_Acosta_Solución de problemas en un ambiente computacional fragmentado y en un ambiente computacional integrado