ENA reveals different utterance co-occurrence structures by age: older adults show a stronger active–interactive connection while younger adults' constructive–interactive connection is not statistically confirmed¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r1 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 The ENA networks of older and younger adults differed significantly along the X-axis (d = 0.75). → Shigen Shimojo 2025 q3 i2 The connection strength between active and interactive was higher in older adults than younger adults. → Shigen Shimojo 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Shigen Shimojo 2025¶

Shigen Shimojo, Yugo Hayashi. (2025). Age-related differences in explanatory activities during collaborative learning with concept maps: experimental investigation using epistemic network analysis. Intern. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-025-09456-5

q3 · i2 · associational · r1

rENA analysis (window size 7) of ICAP-coded discourse from the 52-participant experiment: "A significant difference was found along the X-axis" (Cohen's d = 0.75); the Y-axis difference was not significant (d = 0.00). Figure 7 shows stronger active–interactive connection for older adults and constructive–interactive for younger adults.

"A significant difference was found along the X-axis between the older adults (mean: 0.07) and young adults (mean: −0.07) (t(43.18) = 2.69, p = 0.020, Cohen’s d = 0.75), but no significant difference was found along the Y-axis between the older adults (mean: 0.00) and young adults (mean: 0.00)"

Shigen Shimojo 2025 (2)¶

Shigen Shimojo, Yugo Hayashi. (2025). Age-related differences in explanatory activities during collaborative learning with concept maps: experimental investigation using epistemic network analysis. Intern. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-025-09456-5

q3 · i2 · associational · r1

Follow-up connection-strength test in the Findings section: older adults' active–interactive connection (mean = 0.44) exceeded younger adults' (mean = 0.33), "Cohen’s d = −0.53", p = 0.042.

"When the strength of connections between active and interactive in the older and student groups was examined using a t-test, a difference was found between the older adults (mean = 0.44) and young adults (mean = 0.33) (t(48.27) = −1.97, p = 0.042, Cohen’s d = −0.53)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Number of rubric sessions interacts negatively with mean age: intervention length matters less for older students — related
• No age difference in the strength of active–constructive connections in collaborative discourse networks — reports the opposite
• Younger adults outperform older adults in concept-map performance, and older adults show no concept-map improvement — related
• Age groups differ in ICAP engagement distribution: younger adults engage more in active mode, older adults more in constructive and interactive modes, during collaborative concept-map learning — related
• Younger adults show higher learning performance than older adults in collaborative concept-map learning of psychological concepts, and older adults show no learning gain — related
• Weekly ENA mean comparisons showed significant high–low performer differences in Weeks 2, 3, 6, and 7 on mr1 and in Weeks 5, 6, and 10 on svd2 — related
• Verbal-utterance-based methods leave collaboration in groups with asymmetrical interactions, such as young children, unexamined — related
• Concept-map generation requires age-appropriate instructional support: younger learners profit from high-coherence, pre-structured maps — related