Abstract
The present experiment examined the value of word diagrams on the concept learning of university students. All students learned the concept of classical conditioning by reading a lesson in which the concept was defined and illustrated through examples and nonexamples. A diagram group studied a lesson in which word diagrams graphically illustrated the conditioning process in each example. A nondiagram group studied the same lesson with the diagrams omitted. On a posttest students classified novel examples and nonexamples as such and explained their reasons for their classifications. Diagram-group students were better at classifying nonexamples and at providing the correct reasons for classifying examples than were nondiagram-group students. Half the students in the diagram group drew diagrams on the posttest and half did not. Diagram drawers performed better than did nondrawers on several measures.
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Grant, L.K. Word Diagrams in Teaching Classical Conditioning. Psychol Rec 52, 129–138 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395419
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395419