A cooperative computerized concept-mapping approach to improving students’ learning performance in web-based information-seeking activities

Concept mapping has been widely adopted in the past few decades as an instructional or learning tool for helping students organize their knowledge; nevertheless, several previous studies have indicated the difficulty of applying this approach. In particular, for elementary school students, developing concept maps could be a difficult task, implying the importance of providing supports during the learning process. In this study, a computerized, cooperative concept-mapping approach is proposed to assist students in interpreting and organizing data collected in web-based information-seeking activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, a learning activity has been conducted on an elementary school natural science course. Two-hundred-and-twenty-fifth graders from seven classes were divided into an experimental group, in which the students learned with the proposed approach; and a control group, in which the students learned with the conventional computerized concept-mapping approach. From the experimental results, it was found that the students in the experimental group had significantly better learning attitudes, self-efficacy, and achievements than those in the control group. In the meantime, the cognitive load of the experimental group students was significantly lower than that of the control group students, implying the effectiveness of the proposed approach.