The relationship between routine and non-routine problem solving and learning styles

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the relationship between learning styles and the efficacy of routine and non-routine problem solving. It also compares these relationships with respect to routine and non-routine problem types. The study sample consisted of 356 eighth-grade students in four different schools. In this study, correlational and comparative analysis approaches were adopted. Regarding routine problems, students with dominant converger and assimilator styles were found to be more successful than those with diverger styles. Convergers were also more successful in non-routine problems, but unlike the previous finding, accommodators achieved remarkable success. Furthermore, the abstract conceptualisation learning mode was a significant predictor of both routine and non-routine problems in the study, indicating that abstract thinking was an important variable in mathematics irrespective of the problem type. Nevertheless, it is plausible that the active experimentation learning mode was the most predictive variable in the success of non-routine problems.