The effects of social studies course enriched with cartoons on students' academic success, attitude, and visual literacy

This research is designed to determine the effects of Social Studies education enriched with cartoons on academic achievement, attitudes, and visual Literacy, employing a mixed-method research approach. In the study, an embedded design was employed, with quantitative data being more dominant. The research utilized a pre-test post-test control group design model for the quantitative dimension. In this context, the research was conducted at a state secondary school within the borders of Artvin province. The study group consisted of 7th-grade students. The experimental group included 22 participants, while the control group comprised 23 participants. Prior to the implementation, both groups were administered two scales: the "Social Studies Achievement Test", prepared by the researcher and piloted as a pre-test, and the "Visual Literacy Competency Scale" and "Attitude Scale Toward Social Studies", which were used with permission from their developers. These scales formed the quantitative dimension of the research. After obtaining all the necessary permissions, these scales were administered as a pre-test to both groups of participants. After the pre-tests, it was determined which of the groups would be the experimental group. The experimental group received instruction using a lesson plan enriched with cartoons drawn and prepared by the researcher, covering the content of the "Production, Distribution, and Consumption" learning area throughout the implementation. In the control group, the same learning area was taught using questions-and-answer and Discussion methods. After the research process, the tests that were used as pre-tests, without any content changes, were administered again as post-tests to both groups. Subsequently, the "Open-Ended Question Form" consisting of 7 open-ended questions prepared by the researcher and approved through the necessary permissions, which constituted the qualitative dimension of the study, was answered only by the participants in the experimental group. Althoug the quantitative data obtained from the measurement tools used during the implementation process met other assumptions of normality, the normality assumption could not be fulfilled due to the number of participants in both groups being fewer than 30. Therefore, instead of the t-test, its non-parametric alternatives, which are used for non-normal distributions, were employed. In this context, the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the scores of the two groups on the same tests conducted during the same process, while the Wilcoxon test was employed to compare the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group. The pre-test and post-test scores of the control group were similarly compared in the same manner. According to the results obtained from the comparisons, this study concluded that Social Studies lessons enriched with cartoons increased academic achievement more than the combined use of lecture, questions-answer, and Discussion methods. However, the lessons did not significantly affect students' attitudes toward Social Studies or their visual literacy. According to the qualitative results obtained from the analyses, it was concluded that participants had a positive perspective on the teaching process enriched with cartoons. When this result is considered in conjunction with the quantitative findings, it was concluded that the positive perspective on the lesson had a positive relationship with academic achievement but no significant impact on visual Literacy or attitudes toward Social Studies.