Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Susan M. Zvacek
Committee Member
Todd A. Curless
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
adult education, ARCS Motivational model, attitudes, Attention, biological concepts, biology courses, college students, concept mapping, Confidence, control groups, instructional materials, instructional strategies, interactive concept maps, lecture notes, learning motivation, motivation, non-major students, online learning, Relevance, Satisfaction, science education, students, teaching methods, treatment groups, undergraduate students, web-based instruction, Web-supported biology courses
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effect of incorporating interactive concept maps, as an instructional strategy for teaching complex biological concepts, on non-major adult students’ attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course. The author hypothesized that the incorporation of interactive concept maps would have an affect on non-major adult students' attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course. Consequently, this study attempted to answer the following question: How would the incorporation of interactive concept maps influence non-major adult students' attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course?
This study was conducted with non-major adult students enrolled in upper-level, Websupported biology courses where the participants were divided into a treatment and a control group. While both groups obtained a carefully designed sequence of lessons that were equivalent in terms of the quality and quantity of the course content, students in the treatment group received copies of the lectures notes throughout the course, which were supplemented with interactive concept maps. Students in the control group, however, received the same lecture notes but without the maps. To evaluate changes in students' attitudinal and motivational levels, all participants were asked to answer the Instructional Materials Motivation Surveys and the Web-Based Instruction Attitude questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the course.
The results indicated that students in the treatment group exhibited more positive attitudes toward and a higher level of motivation toward the Web-supported biology course than students in the control group. Additionally, this study suggested that the observed motivational increase was associated with increases in the Attention, Relevance, and Satisfaction subscales of the ARCS Motivational model. Conversely, a de-motivating effect was observed in the control group following the treatment, which was associated with a decrease in the Attention, Confidence, and Satisfaction motivational subscales
In conclusion, this study suggested that the incorporation of interactive concept maps is a useful instructional strategy to introduce new and complex biological concepts, and a valuable tool for improving attitudes and motivation of non-major adult students toward Web-supported biology courses. To support these findings, future studies should be conducted with a larger sample size and by incorporating the maps into other Websupported science courses. Furthermore, to explore the differences between major and non-major, and adult versus younger students, it is suggested that similar studies be conducted with traditional undergraduate college students majoring in science, and that new studies be performed in other Web-supported biology courses taught by different instructors.