Combining expert K-maps with cued recall to improve students’ conceptions of learning science

A quasi-experimental study

Bibliographic Data

ID21589381
AuthorsXiuting Li (0000-0002-3876-583X, Beijing Normal University), Ying Zhou (0000-0001-7335-5601, Beijing Normal University, corresponding author), Jyh‐Chong Liang (0000-0002-2423-5950, National Taiwan Normal University), Jyh-Chong Liang (National Taiwan Normal University, corresponding author), Yu Wang (0009-0005-4222-2626, Beijing Normal University)
Year2025
Pages1-23
Publication date2025-12-27
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Science Education, Part B (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2154-8455 • E-ISSN: 2154-8463
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09500693.2025.2604794
OpenAlexW7117375654
LanguageEN
References cited38

Inappropriate restudy can impair students’ conceptions of learning science (COLS), a construct linked to learning approaches and related outcomes. This study examined whether optimising restudy by integrating encoding materials with retrieval tasks can improve COLS in physics. We conducted a three-group pre–post quasi-experiment with 98 Grade 8 students in the Chinese mainland. Group A used linear knowledge summaries (LKSs) with exercises; Group B used LKSs with cued recall; and Group C paired expert-generated knowledge logic structure maps (K-Maps) with cued recall. Outcomes were overall COLS and its reproductive and constructivist dimensions. Relative to LKSs with exercises, K-Maps with cued recall produced significantly more constructivist overall COLS, while LKSs with cued recall showed a smaller, tentative advantage over exercises, whereas no reliable difference emerged between the two recall-based conditions on the overall index. For the subscales, both recall-based conditions tended to increase constructivist COLS, and K-Maps with recall showed a tentative reduction of reproductive COLS compared with LKSs with recall. These findings suggest that restudy designs that prioritise generative retrieval and make relations among ideas explicit can nudge students’ learning conceptions toward more constructivist orientations. Implications for classroom restudy and study-strategy design are discussed

Cognition · Cued recall · Cued speech · Knowledge level · Recall · Science education · Teaching method · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Science Education and Pedagogy · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

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