Using laboratory activities enhanced with concept cartoons to support progression in students’ understanding of acid-base concepts

This paper tried to determine the effectiveness of laboratory activities supported by concept cartoons on students’ understanding of acid-base concepts, and in remedying alternative conceptions for these topics. The results show that the intervention enhanced students’ understanding for acid-base chemistry, and hands-on nature of the practical works and concept cartoons were particularly helpful for the students. Although students in both groups improved their performance, the EG performed better, overall. The positive effect of laboratory activities on students’ chemistry achievement is well known and phrased in the related literature (e.g. Hart et al. 2000; Lazarowitz & Tamir, 1994; Özmen, Demircioğlu & Coll, 2009). In similar, the positive effect of concept cartoons on students’ achievement is also reported by several researchers (Kabapınar, 2005; Perales-Palacios & Vilchez-Gonzalez, 2002; Stephenson & Warwick 2002). However, we also know that each teaching method has some limitations if it is used single. For example, Nakhleh, Polles and Malina (2002) report that laboratory work often lacks purpose or well-defined learning objectives. Similarly, Fisher (1997) reported that the visitors who saw a humorous cartoon had less retention of the instructional material and scored lower on the test. As authors, we believe that a combination of these two methods might have enhanced the effect of each other. The results show that combining the pedagogies of laboratory-based activities and concept cartoon may be a useful strategy for teaching acid-base concepts. On the other hand, some of the alternative conceptions are still encountered after the implementation. This indicates that concept cartoon enhanced laboratory activities also has failed to overcome some students’ alternative conceptions towards scientific ones. For this reason, laboratory activities enhanced with concept cartoons also needs to be integrated with some other contemporary teaching methods to be more effective in enhancing students’ learning of acid-base chemistry concepts. Namely, researchers may also improve our approach by integrating new teaching methods into this cooperation.