WHY IS CONCEPT MAPPING EFFECTIVE? SOME THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS

1. WHY IS CONCEPT MAPPING EFFECTIVE? SOME THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS Professor Kirsti Lonka University of Helsinki, Finland/ J.H. Bijtel Visiting Professor, University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands/ and Foreign Adjunct Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

2. THE NEED FOR EVIDENCE-BASED TEACHING? “So why do outstanding scientists who demand rigorous proof for scientific assertions in their research continue to use and, indeed, defend on the basis of the intuition alone, teaching methods that are not the most effective? Many scientists are still unaware of the data and analyses that demonstrate the effectiveness of active learning techniques.” Handelsman, J. et al. Scientific Teaching, SCIENCE, 304, 23 APRIL 2004 www.sciencemag.org

3. Mental representations (or models) • Guide our attention, perception and memory • Not copies of reality, but emphasize things that are important for us • Working memory can only handle 3-7 units at a time • Motivation, stress and anxiety play a role • Complex problem solving requires well-developed mental models

4. van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) model of strategic discourse processing • This model set up connections between constructivist activities in encoding and the quality of the learning outcomes. The model differentiated between three forms of mental representation that may be constructed while learning from text: • a surface memory for actual words and phrases • a textbase, in which a coherent representation of the text is formed; and • a situation model, in which the text content is integrated into the comprehender's knowledge system.

5. Why is the quality of mental representation important? • Surface representation may be thought of as related to to the surface approach to learning (Marton & Säljö, 1976), whereas the textbase and the situation model require more deep-level processing • Forming a situation model requires more constructive processing and knowledge transforming than does forming a textbase (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991) • Situation model is the only way to knowledge that will be easily accessed and beneficial (applicable) later on • The textbase and situation models are not independent of one another, but each has its own characteristics

6. Why study spontaneous strategies? • Such strategies may have a stronger effect on learning than those experimentally induced (e.g., Kardash & Amlund, 1991) • Before implementing new strategy instruction programs, investigators should first determine what strategies occur naturally • The strategies people use when they study for an exam may be quite different from those adopted in psychological experiments. Again, we cannot be sure that the subjects in experimental situations are really trying their best. Therefore, we need to test real learning of real material in real situations (Mayer, 1992).

7. Methodological challenges • Ecologically valid research on spontaneous strategies, while important, is methodologically demanding • The first problem is that it is difficult to predict what strategies will emerge in real life. For instance, research on note taking may prove impossible if the subjects take very few notes spontaneously (e.g., Kardash & Amlund, 1991; Wade, Trathen & Schraw, 1990). • Further, conclusions cannot be reached merely on the basis of subjects' overt behavior, but also on the basis of what students think they are doing. Such "covert cognitive processing" does not necessarily have a consistent relationship with overt strategy behavior (Kardash and Amlund, 1991).

8. EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON SPONTANEOUS NOTE TAKING ACTITIVIES

9. The Learning-From-Text Test (LFT) • In Finland, all high school graduates need to pass entrance examinations in order to get into universities. This is a highly motivating and challenging situation for these young people. • In 1988, we developed the so-called Learning-from-text test (LFT) together with Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, for admission to medical school at the University of Helsinki • LFT became a national examination for all medical schools in 1990 – also in some vocational schools for health professionals • This research resulted in several scientific publications together with Virpi Slotte and Sari Lindblom-Ylänne (Lonka, Lindblom-Ylänne & Maury, 1994; Lindblom-Ylänne, Lonka & Leskinen, 1996;1999; Lahtinen et al., 1997; Slotte & Lonka 1998; 1999ab; 2001ab)

10. THE LFT TEST • The applicants had about one hour to read a demanding 20-page text • They could make notes during their reading • In the end, the text and all notes were taken away, and the applicants were given one hour to complete several types of essay-writing tasks that were based on the text in question and called for remembering, synthesis, or problem-solving. • Our studies took into account the qualitative aspects of the learning outcomes by comparing subjects’ success in various essay-writing tasks that posed qualitatively different demands

11. THE EFFECT OF STUDY STRATEGIES ONLEARNING FROM TEXTLonka, Lindblom-Ylänne & Maury (1994) • The purpose of the present study was to obtain information regarding overt study strategies that high-school graduates in Finland spontaneously use while learning from text in a highly demanding and motivating situation, namely, in an examination taken for admission to a medical school. • Specifically, the intention was to assess qualitative effects of these spontaneous strategies in terms of success in different types of essay-writing tasks • Three hypotheses were tested, based on van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) cognitive model of strategic discourse processing.

12. The hypotheses • Our first hypothesis was that learning a minor detail requires using some specific strategy because the organization of the text does not support its remembering. Again, a central idea may be learned more easily than a detail, regardless of the strategy used. • The second hypothesis was that strategies that maintain a text-based representation of study materials, such as underlining, are related to success in a task which requires a synthesis of the text. • The third hypothesis was that generative study strategies that enhance forming a situation model of the study materials, such as concept mapping, are related to success in a task which requires critical review of the text.

13. METHODSLonka, Lindblom-Ylänne & Maury (1994) • The participants were the 503 applicants to the Helsinki University Medical Faculty in spring 1988 - a random sample of 200 subjects was chosen for more detailed study where their notes were analyzed in detail • The subjects were first asked to read an article written by the Finnish philosopher G. H. von Wright. The text was about scientific-technological developments and their consequences for human welfare and the ecological balance of nature (4021 words) • During reading, subjects were allowed to make notes either in the text or on an attached blank sheet of paper. After 90 minutes of reading time, all the materials where collected and subjects were given three essay-type tasks.

14. METHODS 2Lonka, Lindblom-Ylänne & Maury (1994) • After reading and note-taking the participants were given another 90 minutes to complete three different tasks: • Detailed Learning Tasks. Two concepts from the text had to be explained to a reader who had no previous knowledge of philosophy: a central idea and a minor detail • Synthesis Task. The title of the article had to be explained. This called for pulling together the essentials of the text. The Synthesis Task was thought to measure the formation of coherent textbase, or a synthesis of the text. • Critique Tasks. Subjects were given two paragraphs of the text (called Critique Tasks 1 and 2) which were to be critically reviewed on the basis of the subjects' general knowledge. The Critique Tasks were thought to measure the formation of a situation model, or the ability to go 'beyond' the text.

15. METHODS 3Questionnaire (n = 503) • All participants had completed a one-page questionnaire about what strategies they had used while trying to learn from the text • They were asked to score 'no' or 'yes' on whether they had underlined important parts, made notes on the text paper, made notes on the separate sheet, drawn maps of the relations between concepts, defined central concepts by their own words, or used a strategy of their own not mentioned in the questionnaire (and if yes, describe that strategy). • Also, the subjects were asked to check whether the strategies they used were typical of them, whether they sometimes used them, or whether they had never used them before.

16. METHODS 4Analysis of notes and text papers • Text papers and notes of 200 participants were analysed in terms of underlining, concept mapping, and other notes on the text paper and a (blank) separate sheet. • The total number of different kinds of notes was determined (from 1 to 6) as 1) underlining, 2) concept maps, 3) whole sentences on the text paper, 4) whole sentences on the separate sheet, 5) single words or marks on the text paper, and 6) single words or marks on the separate sheet • It was determined whether Central Idea or Minor Detail were underlined, written on the text paper, written on the separate sheet, defined by own words, included in the notes, or included in the concept maps, and also, how many of these strategies were applied for learning each concept.

17. METHODS 5Statistical Analyses • The sample of 200 subjects was divided into three groups on the basis of percentiles. This was done for the total exam scores, and separately for each task. For the total scores, this resulted in 68 in the below average group (BA), 68 in the average group (A), and 64 in the above average (AA) group in the sample of 200. • The groups BA, A and AA of different tasks were compared by one-way ANOVAs and chi-squares. In the sample, log-linear models were also applied in order to test the second and third hypotheses. • The frequencies of different strategies on the basis of the questionnaire as well as the correlations between scores obtained in different tasks were calculated within the whole group (N = 503).

18. Results: Popularity of different strategies on according to the questionnaire (N = 503) Underlining (88%) Notes on separate sheet (68%) Defining concepts (49%) Notes on the text paper (45%) Concept mapping (14%). 27% described a strategy of their own, for example: "reading with careful thought“, "reflecting“, "writing summaries“, or "outlining." • Most subjects (72%) reported that the strategy they had used was very typical for them. Only 2 % had used a strategy in this test that they had never used before • When the questionnaires and notes (n = 200) were compared, they were found to correspond with each other in 88% of the cases

19. It was helpful to use a variation of strategies • Measured by total scores (n = 200), above average subjects used a more diverse set of strategies, the mean of different strategies being 3.27 (SD = 1.09) than did average subjects (M = 3.01, SD = 1.15), and below average subjects used the smallest number of different strategies (M = 2.68, SD = 1.21). • Differences between these three groups were statistically significant measured by one-way ANOVA (F(2,195)=5.90, p < .05).

20. Detailed learning tasks: A minor detail was learned when it was included in the notes • When learning Central Idea, study strategies did not matter • Those subjects who had either defined Minor Detail, underlined it, or written it down on the separate sheet, obtained a significantly higher score in Detailed Learning Task 2 than the other subjects. • More selective attention was paid to Central Idea: Only 15% of the subjects used more than one strategy for learning Minor Detail, whereas 68% used more than one strategy for learning Central Idea. • Underlining and concept mapping in general were not related to Detailed Learning Tasks

21. Systematic underlining was related to Synthesis task, whereas Concept mapping was related to Critique tasks • Model 1 tested the assumptions that Synthesis Task interacts with underlining and Critique Task 1 interacts with concept mapping, and that there are no other interactions among these variables. This model fit well with the data (G2(25) = 12.88, p = .978) • Model 2 was identical to Model 1, except that Critique Task 2 was included instead of Critique Task 1. This model had an even better fit (G2(25) = 11.95, p = .987). • In sum, there were no major discrepancies between the theoretical models and the data.

22. Slotte & Lonka (1998): Example from a below-average spontaneous concept map

23. Slotte & Lonka (1998): Example from an above average spontaneous concept map

24. Generative note taking useful in general • Lahtinen, Lonka & Lindblom-Ylänne (1997): Generative strategies (summarising, concept mapping) were most useful while learning in text (n = 502) • Slotte & Lonka (1998): Having notes present was useful in text-based remembering, whereas in a task requiring cricitical review of the text there was not much use having notes available (n = 226) • Slotte & Lonka, (1999a) analyzed qualitatively all concept maps that were drawn in an entrance examination (n = 502: 36 maps). The extent and complexity of concept maps played a powerful role in understanding of scientific texts • Slotte & Lonka (1999b): spontaneous note taking was related to success in an entrance examination (n = 226), especially with generative notes

25. BEYOND MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS: SOCIALLY AND PHYSICALLY DISTRIBUTED COGNITION

26. Overcoming cognitive limitations with the help of tools PERSON PERSON + PERSON ++

27. Socially and physically distributed cognition • Cognitive load may be divided between a human beings and external thinking tools (e.g., offices, computers, written documents) • Some cognitive activities may be outsorced to external tools • Note taking activities are social practices, not only individual cognitive efforts • Demanding tasks call for advanced tools and artifacts • New technologies – concept mapping, CSCL, wiki, blogs – may help to distribute cognition both socially and physically

28. Long-Term Memory Internal memory loop Working Memory Consciousness External Memory Field External memory loop External Symbolic Storage Interaction between internal and external memory fields Hakkarainen, Lonka & Paavola (2004), based on Donald (2001, p. 311)

29. SOME CONCLUSIONS • Concept mapping appears useful, even without training • It is useful especially in tasks calling for problem solving and application (situation model)– not so much in detailed remembering • The process of concept mapping enhances learning, regardless of possibilities to review the notes • The results may be interpreted from the cognitive perspective, but also from a more socio-cultural view • Notes may provide an external memory loop that extends the biological memory • More research needs to be done with technologies as tools for forming external digital aids for collaborative knowledge building

30. Studies • Lonka, K., Lindblom-Ylänne, S. & Maury, S. (1994). The effect of study strategies on learning from text. Learning and Instruction, 4, 253-271. • Lahtinen, V., Lonka, K. & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (1997). Spontaneous study strategies and the quality of knowledge construction. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 13-24. • Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (1998). Using notes during essay-writing: Is it always helpful? Educational Psychology, 18, 445-459. • Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (1999a). Review and process effects of spontaneus note-taking on text comprehesion. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 1-20. • Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (1999b). Spontaneous concept maps aiding the understanding of scientific concepts. International Journal of Science Education, 21, 515-531. • Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (2001a) Study-strategy use in learning from text. Does gender make any difference? Instructional Science, 29, 255-272. • Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (2001b) Note-taking and essay writing. In P. Tynjälä, , L. Mason, & K. Lonka. (Eds., 2001) Writing as a Learning Tool: Integrating theory and practice. Studies in Writing. Vol. 7. Dordrecth, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.