Concept Cartoon as a Teaching Technique for Conceptual Change: A Ghanaian Junior High School Experience

This study investigated the use of concept cartoons to diagnose and remedy pupils’ misconceptions in selected science concepts. The sample comprised 37 Junior High School (JHS) pupils and one science teacher in Abelemkpe Junior High School in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Completed worksheets of pupils on concept cartoons of selected science topics were discussed and analyzed to find out their misconceptions about the concepts under study. Results revealed that pupils had a host of misconceptions on the concepts. During class and group discussions, the pupils had the opportunity to compare their original ideas with the ones in the cartoons. They also listened to their peers’ explanations about the correct science concepts and built on their initial conceptual framework. These enabled the pupils to correct their misconceptions in an interactive environment through concept-cartoon-based instruction. The results showed that concept cartoons could be used to determine pupils’ misconceptions of selected science topics to enable appropriate interventions to be designed to address them when possible. Concept cartoon is therefore recommended to be used by JHS teachers to teach science effectively.