| Description |
Representations in the form of concept maps have been shown to be a benefit to leaners. However, previous research examined the influence of these representations in learning in well-structured environments. Additionally, previous research suggests that increasing the activity of students in learning environments has also been shown to yield gains in learning, called the generation effect. The current study extends the literature by examining the influence generative activities and concept map representations have on an ill-structured reasoning process, namely thinking like a lawyer. Pre- and posttests targeting factual knowledge, recall, and transfer were used to assess learning, while verbal protocols were implemented to examine learning processes used by participants. Results were mixed. Representation and activity had no effect on factual knowledge, recall, and near transfer measures. Verbal protocol results showed that students who studied with the concept map representation condition produced a higher proportion of deep utterances during problem solving when using static representations compared to those that generated their representation. The opposite was true for students in the text list condition. Those who generated their text list representation during study produced a higher proportion of deep utterances in problem solving when compared to those who studied with a static list. Thus, a careful consideration of topical materials and learning environments is necessary to determine whether or not concept maps and generation effects will encourage deeper comprehension in learners. |
