Problem solving skills have been widely used to achieve desired outcomes in everyday life and professional contexts. To solve a
complex problem in a real situation, people need to improve causal reasoning and systems thinking. Causal mapping can be used as an
instructional method to develop and support students’ causal reasoning and systems thinking by establishing their own mental models. Also,
causal maps can be used to assess students’ understanding of complex problems. However, it is required to determine which mapping
processes produce more accurate maps dependent upon individual differences in prior knowledge, because students’ causal maps can vary
depending on the level of prior knowledge and which mapping processes are used to construct causal maps. Given this issue, the purpose of
this study was to identify a) the mapping processes that are dependent on students’ prior knowledge; and b) the mapping processes that can
help students produce more accurate causal maps and achieve deeper understanding. In this study, 43 students constructed three different
causal maps for three topics, and a total of 127 mapping recordings and causal maps were collected and analyzed using post hoc analysis.
The findings revealed that students with high and medium levels of prior knowledge showed a slight tendency to use the backward approach
over the forward approach, whereas students with low levels of prior knowledge showed an equal tendency to use both approaches. Students
across all three levels of prior knowledge were more likely to use the breadth-first approach over the depth-first and unidentified
approaches. Students that produced higher and lower quality causal maps both showed a slight tendency to use the backward approach over
the forward approach and a higher tendency to use the breadth-first approach over the depth-first approach. The ratio of forward vs.
backward approaches was negatively and significantly correlated with the quality of causal maps. Therefore, when students mostly used the
forward approach, they constructed lower quality causal maps. In addition, the ratio of breadth-first vs. depth-first approaches was
positively and significantly correlated with the quality of causal maps. This indicates that when students mostly used the breadth-first
approach, the quality of their causal maps increased. Prior knowledge had a direct negative effect on the ratio of forward/backward
approach and the ratio of breadth-first/depth-first approach, however prior knowledge had a direct positive effect on map quality. The
ratio of forward/backward approach had a direct negative effect on map quality, and the ratio of breadth-first/depth-first approach had a
direct positive effect on map quality. In conclusion, the main implication of this study is that instructors need to encourage students to
jointly use the backward and the breadth-first approaches when working to solve diagnosis-solution problems. And, educational researchers
need to design causal mapping software/tools to facilitate the backward and the depth-first approaches so that causal mapping can help
students achieve higher levels of understanding controlling for individual differences in prior knowledge and causal reasoning skills, and
be used to measure their causal understanding. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / November 16, 2016. / causal mapping, causal mapping process, causal map quality, prior knowledge, problem solving / Includes bibliographical references. / Allan Jeong, Professor Directing Dissertation; Paul Marty, University Representative; James
Klein, Committee Member; Vanessa Dennen, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_405628 |
| Contributors | Shin, Hyoung Seok (authoraut), Jeong, Allan C. (professor directing dissertation), Marty, Paul F. (university representative), Klein, James D. (committee member), Dennen, Vanessa P., 1970- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (163 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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