The Impact of Cognitive Styles on Learners' Knowledge Understanding and Behavioral Patterns in Collaborative Concept Mapping Activities

Concept mapping has demonstrated its potential in supporting collaborative learning and knowledge comprehension among learners. Integrating collaborative concept mapping into the learning environment can facilitate individual cognitive development and collective knowledge construction. However, learners' learning outcomes in collaborative concept mapping activities may be influenced by individual differences. This study aims to investigate the impact of cognitive styles on learners' knowledge understanding and behavioral patterns in collaborative concept mapping activities. Taking the first-year undergraduate freshmen as the research object, this paper analyzes the knowledge understanding level and behavior pattern characteristics of learners with different cognitive styles in collaborative concept mapping activities. The findings are as follows: 1) The scores of relationships, branchings, and crosslinks of learners in the collaborative stage are higher than those in the individual stage. 2) In the collaboration stage, the number of examples in the field-independent learner concept maps is higher than that in the field-dependent group; 3) The field-independent group has an efficient and smooth conversational behavior transfer patterns, while the field-dependent group has an operation-centered conversational behavior transfer patterns. These findings provide valuable insights for teachers in designing and organizing collaborative concept mapping activities.