Share Paper: Using Cartooning to Enhance Engagement in the Elementary Science Classroom

  1. Robin McCartney, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, United States
  2. Pavel Samsonov, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, United States
Tuesday, March 26 2:45 PM-3:05 PM Bayside A

Abstract: The content of science is abstract in nature and difficult for most students although science teaching is becoming more integrated with other subject matter, according to some researchers. The authors wanted to know if using the combination of technology, cartooning, inquiry, hands-on activities and dialoging with animated characters would help increase student engagement over the semester. Twenty-six pre-service teachers were given an assignment to create PowerPoint presentations and present the lesson to their grade 1-5 science classroom student learners using cartooning and animation. Three hundred and ninety student learners using this technique completed a survey. The results revealed that 100% ...