The effects of concept mapping experience, feedback timing, and motivation on students’ learning outcomes

Abstract

Motivation plays a critical role in shaping how learners engage with instructional strategies such as concept mapping and feedback, yet its moderating influence remains underexplored. This classroom-based study investigated the impact of feedback timing and concept map experience on students’ retention and knowledge transfer in an undergraduate chemistry course. A total of 316 students were randomly assigned to one of three feedback conditions (immediate, delayed, or none) while also categorized based on their prior experience with concept mapping. The study employed a 3 × 2 factorial design. Learners completed a computer-based concept mapping task followed by assessments measuring retention and transfer. Both immediate and delayed feedback significantly enhanced knowledge transfer compared to no feedback. However, feedback timing did not significantly influence retention performance. Although not experimentally manipulated, prior concept mapping experience was associated with better performance, particularly on transfer tasks—suggesting it may support deeper knowledge application. Concept map quality strongly predicted retention, while intrinsic goal orientation emerged as a key predictor of transfer. These findings highlight how motivation and prior experience influence learning outcomes in concept mapping tasks, suggesting implications for instructional design in chemistry and related domain-specific learning environments.