Visualizing Learning in College-level Science Courses: Using Concept Mapping as Note Taking Strategy

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2017

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Most undergraduate students take an introductory science course during their first two years. For higher education science faculty, one of the challenges of teaching an introductory science course is the reality that many undergraduate students are not prepared to be self-directed learners. Given recent high school experiences, many students expect to earn a grade of A or B. However, the failing results of the first exam can be disappointing, if not frustrating, to these students. Not only do the students not develop mastery of the science content they studied, they had more difficulties retaining and recalling key and relevant information. During the Fall 2015 semester, the researchers assigned approximately 139 students within a Principles of Biology I (BIOL 1107) lecture course to one of the three note taking category identified for this study -- 1) Traditional note taking, 2) Concept mapping, and 3) Visual mapping. Findings, based on quantitative data, showed no significant differences between and among note taking strategies and exam averages. However, using descriptive statistics, researchers found that students with a prior GPA of < 3.0 before taking the class (i.e., C and below) and using the traditional note taking strategy seemed not to be performing well on unit exams. Qualitative data, overall, suggests that the students found their specific note taking strategy to be beneficial, especially when it came to preparing for the cumulative final exam.

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9 pages

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States

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