The effect of concept cartoons on student achievement, attitude and permanence in science and technology courses in primary school 6th grade

In parallel with the rapid developments in technology and science, there has been some differentiation in the education approach as well. Instead of the rote learning approach of traditional education, it has become more important that learners think, question, give meaning to and find solutions for the problems they encounter. Considering the fact that traditional education systems are insufficient in obtaining these goals, the constructivist approach has been adopted. The constructivist approach requires that students should be encouraged to think and reflect their thoughts as well as revealing their preliminary knowledge. It is essential that methods, tools and techniques that will serve this purpose be included in classrooms. One of the visual tools used in ensuring that students reveal their preliminary knowledge and express their thoughts by making them think about these are the concept cartoons. Concept cartoons are the visual tools by means of which opinions regarding the incidents in daily life are presented through the speeches of the cartoon characters. It is thought that concept cartoons support the constructivist learning environment, being very effective in encouraging students to discuss and reflect.The present study aims at examining the effect of using concept cartoons in Science and Technology courses in Primary School 6th grade on students? academic achievements, attitudes and permanence. For this purpose, a semi-experimental pattern with pre-test and post-test control group was used in the study. The study was conducted with 53 students in total, 28 of whom were in the experiment grup and 25 of whom were in the control group, who were studying at a primary school in the Soma district of the city of Manisa in the second term of the 2009 - 2010 academic year. The experimental practice was administered for four weeks on the issues of ?support and movement system?, ?respiratory system? and ?fight with microbes? which are included in the ?systems in our body? chapter. In the control group, the lectures were given in line with the current Science and Technology curriculum, while in the experimental group they were supported with concept cartoons. An attitude scale and academic achievement test were applied as pre-test and post-test to the students in the experimental and control groups. Data regarding the permanence scores of the students were obtained through the permanence test applied 6 weeks after the application. Data obtained were analyzed through the analysis program SPSS17. Covariance analysis (MANCOVA) was applied for the data obtained from academic achievement and attitude tests. In order to determine the effect of concept cartoons on the permanence of the things learnt, ANOVA was used for the 2x2 (duration x grade) repeated measurements between the Science and Technology post-test scores of the experimental and control group and permanence test scores. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were made with the experimental group students selected following the application. Data obtained as a result of the interviews were analyzed with content analysis.Results obtained from the study are as follows: according to the results of the analysis, there is no significant difference between the experimental and control group academic achievement pre-test and post-test scores and permanence test scores. It can be said that concept cartoons supported Science and Technology courses create similar effects on students? academic achievements and permanence with the current Science and Technology curriculum. Also, it is seen that the difference between the attitude post-test scores of experimental and control group is not significant. Further, during the semi-structured interviews, students presented positive opinions about the fact that concept cartoons were used in the courses. They stated that they enjoyed the way the course was presented, the courses were more fun with concept cartoons and they helped them learn better while also emphasizing that other science subjects could be taught through concept cartoons. Based on these conclusions, suggestions were made with regards to the use of concept cartoons in Science and Technology courses.