The Effect of Concept Cartoons as an Instructional Material and Formative Assessment Tool in Teaching Evolution and Diversity on the Achievement of Freshmen College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of concept cartoons as an instructional material and a formative assessment of learning tool in teaching evolution and diversity at the tertiary level. The design of this study is a pretest, posttest experimental design. The sample of this study was 90 freshmen college students of the Quezon City Polytechnic University (QCPU). In both control (n = 45) and experimental (n = 45) groups, lessons in evolution and diversity were presented according to the outcome-based learning approach. Concept cartoons were used as an instructional material and a formative assessment tool in the experimental group. Pretest and posttest were given to students to determine if the use of concept cartoons as an instructional material can improve student achievement. Independent sample t-test results showed that there is no statistically significant difference between control and experimental groups with respect to students’ achievement before the treatment. Paired sample t-test showed statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest scores for both experimental and control group. When posttest scores of experimental and control groups were compared, results revealed statistically significant difference between experimental and control groups with respect to their achievement. As a conclusion, the integration of concept cartoons in the teaching of evolution and diversity resulted in a significant improvement in the academic achievement of tertiary-level students.