Effect of Using Culturally Responsive and Differentiated Concept Cartoons on Students’ Academic Success and Attitude in Science Teaching

Abstract

Effect of using of culturally responsive and differentiated concept cartoons (CRDCCs) in science teaching on students’ academic achievement in ‘Our World, Moon and Our Source of Life: Sun’ unit and attitudes toward astronomy were inspected in this study. The study has been conducted in quasi-experimental designs. Study group of the research includes 80 voluntary 6th graders selected from two different schools in Akçakale province. ‘6th Class Our World, Moon and Our Source of Life: Sun Achievement Test’ and ‘Astronomy Attitude Scale’ were utilized to determine academic achievement and attitude levels of students, respectively. CRDCCs supported lectures have lasted for 4 weeks. To collect data, only attitude scale at the beginning and both attitude and achievement tests were applied at the end of the study. To observe whether treatment and control group scores differ from each other, Independent Samples T Test and Covariance Analysis were applied respectively. In addition, data was analyzed according to various variables to be able to draw a profile of the study group. Findings revealed that group scores are differentiated in treatment group’s favor. As a result, CRDCCs are effective instructional tools to increase academic achievement in regarding unit and develop positive attitudes toward astronomy.