Successful and unsuccessful mapping behaviors for learning procedural-type knowledge

Abstract

Mind mapping is a powerful technique that is often used for teaching declarative knowledge, but seldom implemented to record procedural knowledge. The present study focused on the latter. During a 12-week public presentation course, self-developed mind mapping software was utilized as a learning tool and an instrument to collect and analyze user behavior logs while summarizing and revising procedural knowledge. The participants were 53 working adults. They were divided into successful and unsuccessful mapping profiles based on their improvement. The pre- and post-tests on presentation skills, lag sequential analysis on log data, and interviews suggested that participants showing successful mapping behavior prioritized readability and ease of navigation of their maps. Their counterparts with unsuccessful mapping behavior tended to overload their maps and overuse highlighting. The discovery of actions and behavior patterns during the creation and revision of mind maps corresponding to successful/unsuccessful mind mapping profiles provides important suggestions to enhance existing digital mind mapping tools and to diagnose students who are falling behind. The implementation of mind mapping for procedural learning expands the area of mind mapping research and enlarges our understanding of teaching procedural knowledge.