INFLUENCE OF CONCEPT CARTOONS ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING BIO-DIVERSITY

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Use of visual materials has gained great importance in education. One of these materials is concept cartoons. Cartoons are visually rich materials which focus on people and events from a critical perspective in a humorous manner without being harsh in criticism. In the present study, the purpose was to examine the influence of a learning environment supported with concept cartoons on elementary school fifth grade students’ understanding the subject of bio diversity within the scope of the course of Science. In the study, the quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group was used. The study was carried out with a total of 50 fifth grade students from an elementary school in Ipekyolu, a district of the city of Van, in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2017-2018. The subject of bio-diversity was taught to the control group students using only the activities in Science curriculum, while it was taught to the experimental group with the help of concept cartoons. The research data were collected using the “Bio- Diversity Achievement Test (BDAT)” including 10 related open-ended questions directed to the participants as pre-test and post-test. The research data were analysed using the package software of SPSS 20. Various analysis techniques were conducted on the data obtained via BDAT using the Table of Levels of Understanding. These analyses included independent groups Mann - Whitney U test, independent groups t-test, dependent groups t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. The results of the analyses revealed that the experimental group students taught using concept cartoons were more successful.

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Elementary school fifth grade students , bio , diversity , concept cartoons

Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi

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Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi