Concept mapping as a follow-up strategy to learning from texts: what characterizes good and poor mappers?

Abstract

Concept maps consist of nodes that represent concepts and links that represent relationships between concepts. Various studies have shown that concept mapping fosters meaningful learning. However, little is known about the specific cognitive processes that are responsible for such mapping effects. In a thinking-aloud study, we analyzed the relations between cognitive processes during concept mapping as well as the characteristics of the concept maps that the learners produced and learning outcomes (38 university students). To test whether differences in learning outcome are due to differences in general abilities, verbal and spatial abilities were also assessed. In a cluster-analysis two types of ineffective learners were identified: 'non-labeling mappers' and 'non-planning mappers'. Effective learners, in contrast, showed much effort in planning their mapping process and constructing a coherent concept map. These strategies were more evident in students with prior concept-mapping experience ('advanced beginners') than in those who had not used this learning strategy before ('successful beginners'). Based on the present findings, suggestions for a direct training approach (i.e., strategy training with worked-out examples) and an indirect training approach (i.e., supporting the learners with strategy prompts) were developed.Keywords Concept map Á Mapping Á Learning strategy Á Training Á Learning from texts Á Thinking aloud Concept mapping is a method for representing knowledge graphically. Nodes represent concepts, and labeled links represent the relations between the concepts. The idea of concept mapping is based on Ausubel's assimilation theory of cognitive learning (Ausubel et al. 1978). According to Ausubel, the mind organizes information in a hierarchical top-down fashion. Concept maps visualize how concepts are hierarchically related and how concepts on the same hierarchical level are interrelated. As several studies have shown,

Étude descriptive de l’utilisation des cartes conceptuelles comme stratégie pédagogique en sciences de la santé

“…Quoi qu'il en soit, il est légitime de supposer que plus ce type de straté-gie est intégré tôt dans la carrière d'un enseignant, plus grand pourrait être l'impact sur sa pratique. On peut en contrepartie faire l'hypothèse qu'une expé-rience minimale en enseignement soit requise pour que l'utilisation des cartes conceptuelles soit optimale et apporte une réelle valeur ajoutée, comme cela semble être le cas pour les étudiants [12] .…”

Measuring students’ information skills through concept mapping

“…• • • • analysis of the frequencies of nodes and labelled and non-labelled links, cross links etc., based on the work of Hilbert and Renkl [40].…”

“…In addition, they encourage text creation processes [41] and information reduction processes [42], both of which help to build a coherent structure of knowledge [40].…”

The effects of constructing domain-specific representations on coordination processes and learning in a CSCL-environment

“…Due to a representational tools' ontology (i.e., its objects, relations, and rules for combining objects and relations) each tool provides a specific sort of representational guidance making certain concepts and/or interrelationships (e.g., causal or mathematical) more salient than others (Fischer, Bruhn, Gräsel, & Mandl, 2002;Suthers, 2006). Using such tools could foster understanding and learning-task performance because learners are stimulated to carry out learning activities such as (1) selecting relevant information, (2) organizing concepts into coherent structures, (3) relating information to prior understanding, (4) determining knowledge and comprehension gaps, and (5) generating new ideas, questions and plans (Ainsworth, 2006;Hilbert & Renkl, 2008;Stull & Mayer, 2007). Furthermore, a shared representation represents learners' current conceptions and ideas about the domain content and the learning-task.…”