Concept Mapping: An Intervention to Improve Teaching and Learning in Undergraduate Biology Classes

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Factors and Strategies Impacting Student Engagement in Science

Abstract

This mixed-methods study evaluates how concept mapping, when used as an active learning strategy, can impact undergraduate biology students’ academic performance, self-efficacy, and metacognition. A 43-item, 1-7 response scale survey called the Self-Efficacy And Learning Survey (SEALS) was used with 122 experimental and 84 control group students in a quasi-experimental design during 2016-17. Results revealed higher average item means for the experimental/intervention group for all seven scales of the SEALS during the posttest. Differences were statistically significant for two scales—Elaboration (p<0.05) and Metacognitive Self-Regulation (p<0.01). Effect sizes for these differences are considered large by Cohen (1988)—0.63 SD and—0.70 SD, respectively. Interviews were also conducted with a subsample of students and a rubric used to assess mapping skill.

Authors

• Catherine Shelley Martin-Dunlop, Morgan State University

• Samala Lewis, Morgan State University

• Ernest C. Steele, Morgan State University

• Robert Javonillo, Morgan State University

• Dara Davis, Baltimore City Public Schools