Assessment and Modification of Flexibility of Cognitive Structures Created in University Courses |
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| Institution: | 1. Departament de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica & IQTCUB, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;2. ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain;3. Department of Theoretical Chemistry and Amsterdam Center for Multiscale Modeling (ACMM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1083, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands;4. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados Unidad Mérida, Km. 6 Antigua carretera a Progreso, Apdo. Postal 73, Cordemex, 97310, Mérida, Yuc., México;5. Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands;6. Institute of Molecules and Materials (IMM), Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, NL-6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Students' organization of the knowledge that they acquire is an important factor in determining the degree to which it is retained and used. In the past we have used the “fill-in-the-structure” (FITS) task as a direct method of inferring students' cognitive structures of course content (Naveh-Benjamin, Lin & McKeachie, 1995). This study goes one step further by using the FITS task to assess the flexibility of students' cognitive structures of the material learned; that is, whether students are able to relate the same concepts in different ways when the concepts are embedded in two different conceptual frameworks. We assessed the flexibility of students' cognitive structures in three studies by asking students in an ecology course to complete two different structures, each based on a different major dimension in the course. Results of the first study showed that the FITS technique could be used to assess students' ability to use concepts learned in the course appropriately in two different frameworks. The flexibility measures obtained were positively related to academic performance. The second study demonstrated the usefulness of the technique in measuring the development of conceptual flexibility during the course. Finally, the third study employed the technique to show that students' flexible use of concepts can be enhanced by appropriate instruction. |
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