International Journal of Online Pedagogy and Course Design
Volume 8 • Issue 1 • January-March 2018
A Peer Tutoring-Based Concept
Mapping Approach to Improving
Students’ Learning Achievements and
Attitudes for a Social Studies Course
Chien-Wen Chuang, Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Gwo-Jen Hwang, Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Wen-Jen Tsai, Department of Information and Learning Technology, National University of Tainan, Taipei, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Concept maps are well recognized as being an effective tool for helping students organize and
construct their knowledge. However, previous studies have also indicated the difficulty encountered
by young students in concept mapping. Therefore, how to provide an efficient strategy for enhancing
students’ learning achievement using concept mapping is worth studying. The purpose of this study
is to explore the effects of the peer tutoring-based concept mapping approach on students’ learning
performance. A 5-week experiment was conducted in an elementary school social studies course in
southern Taiwan. The participants were two classes of fifth graders. One class was the experimental
group consisting of 33 students provided with a computerized concept map learning model based on
peer tutoring, whereas the other class was the control group consisting of 32 students learning with a
conventional computerized concept mapping approach. It was found that the learning achievements and
the concept map scores of the students who learned with the peer-tutoring strategy were significantly
higher than those students who learned with the conventional computerized concept mapping approach.
Meanwhile, the result also indicated that the innovative approach is significantly helpful for improving
the students’ learning attitudes and technology acceptance levels.
KeywORDS
Concept Mapping, Peer Tutoring, Social Studies Courses, Technology Acceptance Model
INTRODUCTION
Social studies for elementary schools is an interdisciplinary subject which needs to integrate different
learning domains of theories and principles so that students can apply them in their daily life. In
traditional instruction, most teachers tend to instruct via lectures, and hence students seldom have
the chance to organize the learning content and link what they have learned with their daily life
experience. In this case, it is likely that only the cognitive objectives at a low level can be obtained,
while those at a high level and effective, instrumental objectives are ignored (Wang & Wu, 2008).
DOI: 10.4018/IJOPCD.2018010101
Copyright © 2018, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
1
Volume 8 • Issue 1 • January-March 2018
A Peer Tutoring-Based Concept
Mapping Approach to Improving
Students’ Learning Achievements and
Attitudes for a Social Studies Course
Chien-Wen Chuang, Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Gwo-Jen Hwang, Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Wen-Jen Tsai, Department of Information and Learning Technology, National University of Tainan, Taipei, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Concept maps are well recognized as being an effective tool for helping students organize and
construct their knowledge. However, previous studies have also indicated the difficulty encountered
by young students in concept mapping. Therefore, how to provide an efficient strategy for enhancing
students’ learning achievement using concept mapping is worth studying. The purpose of this study
is to explore the effects of the peer tutoring-based concept mapping approach on students’ learning
performance. A 5-week experiment was conducted in an elementary school social studies course in
southern Taiwan. The participants were two classes of fifth graders. One class was the experimental
group consisting of 33 students provided with a computerized concept map learning model based on
peer tutoring, whereas the other class was the control group consisting of 32 students learning with a
conventional computerized concept mapping approach. It was found that the learning achievements and
the concept map scores of the students who learned with the peer-tutoring strategy were significantly
higher than those students who learned with the conventional computerized concept mapping approach.
Meanwhile, the result also indicated that the innovative approach is significantly helpful for improving
the students’ learning attitudes and technology acceptance levels.
KeywORDS
Concept Mapping, Peer Tutoring, Social Studies Courses, Technology Acceptance Model
INTRODUCTION
Social studies for elementary schools is an interdisciplinary subject which needs to integrate different
learning domains of theories and principles so that students can apply them in their daily life. In
traditional instruction, most teachers tend to instruct via lectures, and hence students seldom have
the chance to organize the learning content and link what they have learned with their daily life
experience. In this case, it is likely that only the cognitive objectives at a low level can be obtained,
while those at a high level and effective, instrumental objectives are ignored (Wang & Wu, 2008).
DOI: 10.4018/IJOPCD.2018010101
Copyright © 2018, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
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