Instructional scaffolding intervention and concept mapping outcomes among diverse learners in a preservice educational psychology course: A model for developing expertise in writing expressions of conceptual understanding

Intervention efforts were initiated in an experimental group to develop expertise in writing expressions of conceptual understanding among students taking educational psychology courses. Sixty preservice teacher certification students from two mid-western universities participated in the study. Participants were enrolled in one of three 'Introduction to Educational Psychology' courses. One of the courses was used as an experimental group and two of the courses were used as comparison groups. The experimental group participants ( n = 20) were enrolled at a public, state-supported university. Comparison group 1 participants (n = 20) were enrolled at a state supported university, and comparison group 2 participants (n = 20) were enrolled at a private university. Two dependent measures were used: (1) a concept map representation sheet; and (2) a short essay question sheet to assess the participants' written expressions of conceptual understanding of motivation theory. For the experimental group, instructional scaffolding interventions (ISI) followed mapping and writing activities. ISI was used as a method of instruction to support struggling-novices by giving increasingly specific hints to help the student develop an appropriate schematic representation of the concept being taught. A two-factor, multivariate repeated measures analysis revealed a significant difference between test phases on the dependent measures (concept maps and essays combined) Wilks' Lambda value = .254, F value = 11.00, Sig. = .000 with observed power = .998). An ANOVA revealed a significant difference between the experimental group and comparison group 1 during phase three LF = 5.614, Sig. = .023). Specifically, the experimental group had a higher mean total score (map and essay combined) (M = 33.10) than comparison group 1 (M = 24.80). More participants in the experimental group (n = 8) than in the comparison group 1 (n = 4) were identified as expert-novices in the last phase. Of all the groups, the participants in the comparison group 2 had the highest mean total score for phase three. ISI and concept mapping activities may be more necessary at institutions with sampling characteristics that are similar to the experimental and the comparison group 1 participants. Fourteen sets of interview and retrospective think aloud protocol comparisons between types of learners suggest that expert-novices have highly organized knowledge structures and more developed monitoring skills. Knowledge structures were reported to facilitate written expressions of conceptual understanding.