British Journal of Educational Psychology zyxwvut (1996). 66, 181-195 Printed in Great Britain Q 1996 zyxwvutsrqpo The British Psychological Society zyxwvut The effects of a problem-solving based Logo environment on children’s information processing components Zemira R. Mevarech* and Ester Kapa School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel The present study investigated the simultaneous effects of a problem-solving based Logo environment on children’s metacomponents, knowledge acquisition components regarding graphing skills, and figural creativity. Participants were 108 fifth-grade children who studied in four classrooms. Intact classrooms were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a problem-solving based Logo environment called Logo- Stat, or a comparison. The duration of the study was one semester. Results showed significant multivariate effects on metacomponents,knowledge acquisitioncomponents, and creativity, in favour of the Logo-Stat group. Univariate analyses indicated that knowledge acquisition components and certain aspects of figural creativity (e.g.. originality) and metacomponents (e.g., correctness) were more strongly affected by Logo-Stat than others (e.g., fluency, flexibility, and utilisation). The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Recently, interest has turned to questions of how certain kinds of learning environments relate to the simultaneous enhancement of different kinds of information processing components. For example, does a computer learning environment that is designed to promote problem solving processes facilitate metacomponential functioning simultaneously with knowledge acquisition components? zyxwv Can such environments enhance also creativity? These questions are becoming urgent because of continuous efforts to find effective ways for using computers within educational contexts. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the simultaneous effects of a problem- solving based Logo environment, called Logo-Stat (Mevarech zyxw & Kramarski, 1992, 1993) on metacomponents, knowledge acquisition components, and creativity. The study is based on Sternberg’s model of information processing (Sternberg, 1988~1, 1988b). We will shortly review the Sternberg model and its application to the learning in problem-solving based Logo environments. We will then describe a quasi-experimental study that focuses on the effects of a problem-solving based Logo environment on children’s information processing components. Theoretical background Sternberg (1988a, 19886) hypothesises that people solve problems by carrying out different kinds of cognitive components. A component is ‘an elementary information process that *Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Professor Z. Mevarech, School of Education, Bar- Ilan University, 52 100 Ramat-Gan. Israel