Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1248

Date

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Psychology

Concentration

General Psychology

Committee Chair

Philip Pavlik

Committee Member

Jason Braasch

Committee Member

Mark Conley

Abstract

Concept maps (CMs) and their effectiveness as educational tools have been of great interest amongst educators and researchers over the past 30 years. However, research has not addressed if the two components of concept maps (i.e., nodes and links) offer different mechanisms for learning. Participants (n = 86) in the current experiment read a science text while taking notes by: generating only links of a CM, generating only nodes, or generating all components of a CM. A non-generative comparison group studied a fully provided map along with the text. Posttest assessments measured information recall and transfer ability. Repeated measures ANCOVAs indicated that providing students with nodes, and therefore the key concepts and structure of the information, produced significantly higher posttest scores than having students generate nodes. The expected benefits of generative note taking and partial scaffolding were not found. Implications and future experiments are discussed.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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