K-mapping or summarization: which is better in enhancing recall and comprehension for gifted students?

Abstract

Research questions addressed by this study focus on determining the relative effectiveness of different learning strategies (summarization or knowledge mapping) for enhancing recall and comprehension of elementary science information. Two implementation approaches (self-generated or expert-generated) were compared across both strategies (maps/summaries) to determine the circumstances under which knowledge acquisition could be maximized. Subsequent to reading science text about how the brain works, third grade students currently enrolled in a gifted and talented program were given an expert-generated k-map or verbal summary of the text, or were asked to produce their own k-map or verbal summary of the same material. The results indicate that the mapping strategy led to significantly better performance on free recall, multiple choice and fill in the blank dependent measures. Recall of information found in the text on the free recall task was enhanced the most for students who studied with expert generated maps and for the individuals who produced their own summaries as study aides. Research findings for the free recall measure indicated a main effect for strategy (map) across all three types of dependent variables; text, descriptive and procedural. A strategy by implementation approach interaction indicated that expert-generated maps were more effective for the text dependent variable, while the reverse was true for the summary condition in which students who generated their own study aide outperformed those who used expert-summaries. A main effect for strategy showed that maps led to higher performance on two of the multiple choice dependent variables. Research findings for the fill in the blank test indicated a main effect for the mapping strategy with two dependent variables showing significance. Suggestions are made for future experimentation with maps and summarization strategies.