Development of knowledge frameworks and higher order cognitive operations among secondary school students who studied a unit on ecology

Thirteen randomly selected 9th and 10th grade students who studied an ecology unit were interviewed, and the tape-recorded data analysed for changes in organisation of knowledge, represented by ideational networks and the development of higher cognitive operations. Flow maps and content analysis, using a list of cognitive information processing categories, were used to analyse the tape-recorded narrative. The structure of the student knowledge became increasingly advanced, as represented by increasing complexity of student ideational networks. The network complexity closely paralleled the development of higher order cognitive operations, as evidenced in interview data. This research provides insights into how students develop knowledge schemata, ideational networks, and the capacity to express ecological understandings using higher order cognitive operations over several weeks.