Effect of computer animations upon achievement, attitute and misconceptions of biology education (cell topic)

The prime purpose of this study is to determine the misconceptions of biology pre service teachers related to topic of cell and investigate the effect of computer animation supported biology education upon their misconceptions related to topic of cell, their academic achievement and attitudes towards biology. The study was participated by 97 pre service teachers studying in the first year of university. The quantitative data were collected by ?achievement test related to cell topic?, ?biology attitude test? and qualitative data were also collected by interviews carried out with 12 selected students in experimental and control group. There were control and experimental groups formed and the experimental group was taught with computer animations related with diffusion, osmosis, active transport, protein synthesis, mitosis and mycosis phenomena taking place in cell while the control group was taught with traditional method based on question and answer process.The quantitative data obtained were evaluated by t- test and represented by tables and graphs. The data obtained from interviews were subjected to content analysis. The misconceptions determined were coded by a computer soft ware and these codes were collected and evaluated under themes. The misconceptions obtained by pre and post interviews were compared to each other and tabulated with tables and graphs.The results of the study revealed the following:There were significant differences between the academic achievements of control and experimental groups. The difference is in the favor of the experimental group which revealed the fact the computer animations caused a significant increase in the academic achievements of the studentsThere were no significant changes related to attitudes towards biology course between the experimental and control groups. Although there was an increase in the attitudes of experimental group which was subjected to animation supported education it was not significantThe interviews revealed the fact that the pre service teachers possessed numerous misconceptions related to 18 themes about protein synthesis and cell division.The data obtained from pre and post interviews revealed the fact that the misconceptions which the control group had possessed before the pre interviews were largely persisted in post interviews. However the misconceptions possessed in pre interview were mostly eliminated in post interviews for the experimental group. This showed the fact that computer animation supported education was effective n the elimination of misconceptions. Almost all of the participants in the experimental group stated that they liked animated education and it was very helpful for them to understand the topic. There were proposals made based on the data obtained from the study.