Concept Mapping as Note-Taking Strategy in University Science Courses

Abstract

The researchers assigned undergraduate students enrolled in a Principles of Biology I (BIOL 1107) lecture course to one of the three note-taking categories identified for this study -- 1) Traditional note-taking, 2) Concept mapping, and 3) Visual mapping. Students were asked to demonstrate their assigned note-taking strategy in notebooks collected at the day of each unit exam. The notebooks were collected and reviewed based on demonstrated understanding of detailed content based on major concepts within a given unit. Researchers used demographic information (prior GPA, gender, earned credit hours, declared major) and correlated them with the note-taking strategy and exam averages. Findings showed no significant differences between note-taking strategies and exam averages. However, researchers found that students with a prior GPA of <.0 before taking the class (i.e., C and below) and using the traditional note-taking strategy seemed not to be performing well on unit exams. Qualitative data, overall, suggests that the students found their specific notetaking strategy to be beneficial, especially when it came to preparing for the cumulative final exam.