The Effects the Using of Concept Cartoons in Science Education on Students' Academic Achievements and Enquiry Learning Skill Perceptions*

Abstract

In our country, the necessity of science education has been realized to be able to keep in step with the advances in science and technology. Therefore, the content and philosophy of Science Education Programme have rearranged. Science and Technology Education Programme in Turkey has been organized in the basis of constructivist approach. The techniques and methods aimed at providing the active participation of students to the learning process have been taken part in the new programme. According to constructivist approach, students are supposed to be active in the construction process of their knowledge and therefore the use of visual tools which provide students to participate in learning process and to help them learn in a more concrete way to learn meaningful by creating a discussion environment is of great importance. One of the so-called tools is concept cartoons. In this study, the effect of concept cartoons which is used in science education on students' academic achievement and enquiry learning skill perceptions were tried to be determined. According to data obtained from this study, there is no difference between the experiment group and the control group with respect to the students' academic achievement, however there is a meaningful difference in favour of the experiment group with respect to the students' enquiry learning skill perceptions. As a result of this study, it has been determined that concept cartoons have affected students' enquiry learning skill perceptions by helping students to enquire new knowledge with their existing experiences. Purpose and significance: Science and Technology Education Programme in Turkey has been organized in the basis of constructivist approach. The techniques and methods aimed at providing the active participation of students to the learning process have been taken part in the new programme. According to constructivist approach, students are supposed to be active in the construction process of their knowledge. Therefore, the use of visual tools which provide students to participate in learning process and to help them learn in a more concrete way to learn meaningful by creating a discussion environment is of great importance. One of the so-called tools is concept cartoons. In this study, it is aimed to determine the effect the use of concept cartoons in the unit of if there was no pressure, what would happen? in science course on the enquiry learning skills perceptions and academic achievement of students in a primary school in Izmir. Methods: In this study, pre test-post test quasi-experimental design is used to determine the differences between experimental group and control groups' enquiry learning skills perceptions points and post test-only design is used to determine the differences between control and experimental groups' academic acheivement points. Because this study is experimental, the study group was choosen instead of the selection of sample and universe.