Effects of student-generated diagrams versus student-generated summaries on conceptual understanding of causal and dynamic knowledge in plate tectonics

This research examines the beneficial effects of student-generated diagrams versus student-generated summaries on conceptual understanding in the domain of plate tectonics. Fifty-eight Grade 5 students read a brief expository text about plate tectonics. During their reading of the text, students were asked to either draw diagrams, produce written summaries, or simply read the text (control). Conceptual understanding was measured by the diagrams and summaries which were generated during students' reading of the text, as well as by a posttest which assessed students' understanding of both spatial/static and causal/dynamic knowledge of the domain. Results indicated that the summaries generated during the reading of the text contained more domain-related information than the diagrams which were generated during the reading of the text. However, on the posttest measures, the diagram group outperformed both the summary and text only groups in terms of understanding both the spatial/static as well as causal/dynamic aspects of the domain. Results are discussed with regard to the differential effects that generating diagrams as compared to generating summaries or simply reading has on both on-line comprehension during reading and resulting conceptual understanding of the domain. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 39–53, 1999.