Effects of Strategy Training and Elaboration vs. Retrieval Settings on Learning of Cell Biology Using Concept Mapping

Concept mapping (CM) can be an effective strategy to facilitate understanding-based learning of complex and abstract scientific content. In our study, we tried to answer two questions that have not yet been clarified: (1) How effective is CM if the learners do not have the textual learning material...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education sciences 2021-09, Vol.11 (9), p.530
Main Authors: Becker, Lukas Bernhard, Welter, Virginia Deborah Elaine, Großschedl, Jörg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Cognition & reasoning
College Science
Concept Mapping
Cytology
elaboration
Information retrieval
Instructional Effectiveness
Instructional Materials
Knowledge
knowledge acquisition
Learning Strategies
Memory
Metacognition
organization
retrieval practice
Science education
Semantics
strategy training
Success
Teaching Methods
Training
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:Concept mapping (CM) can be an effective strategy to facilitate understanding-based learning of complex and abstract scientific content. In our study, we tried to answer two questions that have not yet been clarified: (1) How effective is CM if the learners do not have the textual learning material available when constructing their concept maps (retrieval setting) in contrast to when the material is available (elaboration setting)? (2) Do potential effects of the two settings depend on the intensity of a previous CM strategy training? To this end, we established a quasi-experimental four-group plan and collected data of N = 93 undergraduate students. The participants received either a detailed CM strategy training or just a short introduction and were then asked to apply CM in a retrieval or elaboration setting. The quality of constructed concept maps and content-related learning success were assessed to determine potential group differences. Overall, our results show a significantly positive but setting-independent effect of the CM strategy training on methodical CM skills. However, the different setting conditions differed neither regarding concept map quality nor content-related learning success, implying that CM in retrieval settings could be as effective as in elaboration settings.
ISSN:2227-7102
2227-7102
DOI:10.3390/educsci11090530