EFFECTS OF LEARNER CONTROL, ADVISEMENT, AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON YOUNG STUDENTS LEARNING IN A HYPERTEXT ENVIRONMENT

This study was an investigation of the effects of learner control and of advisement in a hypertext learning environment with second-grade st udents who had different levels of prior knowledge about the content. Four treatment conditions crossing two variables, learner control (fre e access representing network structuring of hypertext vs. limited acc ess representing hierarchical structuring of hypertext), and advisemen t (advisement vs. no-advisement), were established. From the quantitat ive and qualitative data, results indicated that: (a) for low prior kn owledge (PK) students, the limited-access condition was more effective than the free-access condition, whereas high-PK students were able to function equally well in both conditions; (b) the free-access group r eported a higher positive attitude for advisement than for no adviseme nt, but the limited-access group showed no such difference in preferen ce; (c) the low-PK group completed the lesson more quickly without adv isement than with advisement, whereas the high-PK group's completion t imes did not vary across advisement conditions; and (d) analysis of th e path data indicated that advisement was helpful in preventing disori entation in the free-access condition.