The Effect of Thinking Maps During the Planning Stage of Writing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if after explicit teaching of thinking maps, there will be no difference in the writing grades for an on-demand writing prompt using a specific rubric for third graders who use thinking maps during the planning stage of writing, compared to the writing grades of third graders before they were exposed to explicit teaching of the appropriate thinking maps for a narrative on an on-demand writing prompt. The measurement tool was a ten-point writing rubric. This study involved the use of a pretest/posttest design to compare data from February of 2014 (before explicit thinking map teaching for a narrative writing prompt) to data from April of 2014 (after the teaching was complete). Achievement gains were significant, though results could be attributable to a number of intervening factors. Research in the area of thinking maps on writing should continue given the multitude of thinking maps that can be used and the many genres of writing that exist.