An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Concept Mapping on Turkish Students' Academic Success

Abstract

This paper investigates the experimental studies which test the effectiveness of the concept mapping instructional strategy compared to the traditional teaching method. Meta-analysis was used to calculate the effect size of the concept mapping strategy on academic success. Therefore, the analysis includes experimental studies conducted in Turkey between 2000 and 2015 which compare the concept mapping instructional strategy and the traditional method.  216 master’s and doctoral theses and 114 articles were found on the topic. Among these, 73 studies were selected which met the inclusion criteria. These were then combined through meta-analysis. At the end of the study, the concept mapping instructional strategy has been determined to have a significantly positive effect on the Turkish students' academic success (ES=1,119; p<0,05). Considering the population of Turkey, the findings indicate that the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy in terms of academic success was higher than traditional method.