Pre-service Teachers' Views on the Process of Designing Activities through Cartoons

Abstract

Cartoons are an effective alternative to create a rich learning environment that is visually and audibly equipped for students in an effective science education. It is of upmost significant for science teachers to possess the necessary knowledge, activity experience and equipment in order to carry out a qualified science teaching. Therefore, the pre-service science teachers, who will be trained in the specified direction, should hold a certain level of knowledge, skills and experience in preparing and implementing activities. In this regard, this study aims at revealing the pre-service science teachers’ views on the process of designing activities through using cartoons. The study was carried out with 14 fourth grade pre-service science teachers studying at a state university in Turkey. The cartoon that the pre-service teachers were requested to use to design in-class activities during the implementation was determined as "Ege and Gaga" on the "TRT Child" channel. That this cartoon is related to education and science and includes science subjects has been effective in its selection. This study employed a case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, and the data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. Content analysis was used during data analysis. The results suggested that no pre-service teachers had encountered an activity prepared through using cartoons before. The participants also had positive views on the activity design process such as effective, interesting, enjoyable, concretizing knowledge and alternative technique. These activities, which are appropriate for the teaching and traditional classroom environments, are expected to enable students to access knowledge more easily with pleasure, and thus contributing to learning.