3 perspective4

13 Abstract. Research into students ’ perceptions of their learning environments reveals the 14 impact of these perceptions on the way students cope with these learning environments. 15 Consequently, students ’ perceptions affect the results of their learning. This study aims 16 to investigate whether students in a new learning environment (NLE) perceive it to be 17 more constructivist when compared with the perceptions students have of a conven-18 tional lecture-based environment. Using a questionnaire consisting of seven key factors 19 of constructivist learning environments, the results show that students in the NLE 20 perceive it to be more constructivist when compared to the perceptions of students in a 21 conventional lecture-based environment. The difference was statistically significant for 22 four of the seven factors. According to the effect size, as measured by the d-index, the 23 difference in perception between the two groups was greatest for the factor ‘conceptual 24 conflicts and dilemmas’