The effect of concept cartoons on student success in mathematics teaching

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of concept cartoons on student achievement in mathematics teaching and to examine students' views on the use of concept cartoons. The research was carried out using an experimental design with control group. In the process of data collection, achievement test and semi-structured interview form were used. The study group consisted of 30 students in the 7th grade of Yılmaz Çetin Sözmen Secondary School in Gaziantep, Nizip district of Gaziantep in the spring term of 2017-2018 academic year. In the scope of the research, the data collected by the polygons achievement test for experimental and control group students were analyzed by SPSS (Statically Package for Sciences) 21.0 program. In the evaluation stage of the interview questions in the semi-structured interview form, some student statements were included and the points in the statements were examined by considering the percentage frequency values and were tabulated Content analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the students. The content analysis approach is frequently used in the analysis of qualitative interview data and open-ended questions. The main process of content analysis is to interpret similar data by categorizing them within the framework of certain concepts and themes. In line with the opinions obtained from the semi-structured interview form, it can be said that concept cartoons are a visual tool that increases students' interest and attention towards the lesson and enables them to understand the lesson better. During the interviews, students said that they wanted concept cartoons to be used in other lessons so that other lessons would be more fun and enjoyable and they would understand the lesson better. According to these results, applications related to the use of concept cartoon in mathematics teaching should be expanded and it can be said that concept cartoon method should be included in different learning areas and units. According to the results of the applications and achievement tests, it was seen that the students in the teaching environment supported by concept cartoons were more successful than the students who were taught by traditional (program-based) ways.