How Can We Use Concept Maps for Prior Knowledge Activation - Different Mapping-tasks Lead to Different Cognitive Processes

Abstract

A think-aloud-study was conducted to examine how characteristic affordances of con- cept maps could be used for prior knowledge activation. Characteristic affordances of concept maps are connection lines representing the relationships between concepts and the labeling of these lines specifying the type of the semantic relationships. To investigate the effects of generat- ing semantic relationships versus labeling existing semantic relationships during prior knowledge activation, 20 psychology students were given two concept-mapping tasks: 1) They had to draw and label the connections between the concepts of a map, and 2) they were given a map of con- cepts with connection lines and had to label the connections. Thinking-aloud protocols indicated more elaboration processes in the labeling-the-lines task than in the finding-and-labeling-the-lines task. On the other hand, the protocols indicated more overview and organization-processes in the finding-and-labeling-the-lines task. Thus, particular concept-mapping tasks elicit qualitative dif- ferences in prior knowledge activation processes, which has important practical implications.