Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Keywords
concept maps, effectiveness, science achievement, elementary and secondary education, meta-analysis
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of concept maps on science achievement among elementary and secondary education students, including low-achieving students. A systematic search located 55 studies about concept mapping in science achievement published in peer-reviewed journals and dissertations between 1980 and 2020. We extracted 58 independent standardized mean difference effect sizes from 55 eligible studies involving 5,364 students from Grade 3 to Grade 12 who used concept maps to learn physics/earth science, chemistry, and biology that met the specified design criteria. A random-effects model meta-analysis revealed that the mean effect size was moderate for overall science (g = 0.776). The mean effect sizes varied from moderate to large based on the subject area (g = 0.671 for biology; g = 0.590 for chemistry; g = 1.040 for physics and earth science); these between-groups differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.220). Concept maps were generally associated with increased science learning across several instructional settings, conditions, and methodological features (type of learners, high-income countries, journal publications, and late year of publication). However, we found significant heterogeneity in most subsets. Implications for future research and practice recommendations are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Anastasiou, D., Wirngo, C.N. & Bagos, P. The Effectiveness of Concept Maps on Students’ Achievement in Science: A Meta-Analysis. Educ Psychol Rev 36, 39 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09877-y.
Comments
This open access article was first published in Educational Psychology Review 36, article number 39, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09900-2.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creative.commons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.