What matters in concept mapping? Maps learners create or how they create them

Abstract

Generative strategies, where learners process the target content while connecting different concepts to build a knowledge network, has shown potential to improve student learning outcomes. While concept maps in particular have been linked to the development of generative strategies, few studies have explored structuring the concept mapping process to support generative strategies, and few studies offer intelligent support. In this work, we present a concept mapping tool that offers navigational support in the form of hyperlinks, where nodes in the concept map are linked to segments of text. We evaluate the effect of the hyperlinks on generative strategies and learning outcomes through a week-long high school study with 32 participants. Our results indicate that proper navigational and visual aid during concept mapping facilitates the development of generative strategies, with implications for learning outcomes. Based on these findings, we propose a constraint-based tutoring system to adaptively support the development of generative strategies in concept mapping.