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European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning

EC-TEL 2020: Addressing Global Challenges and Quality Education pp 404–409Cite as

Interactive Concept Cartoons: Exploring an Instrument for Developing Scientific Literacy

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNISA,volume 12315)

Abstract

A goal of K-12 science education is for learners to develop scientific literacy. However, realizing this goal is being complicated by the availability of abundant resources that vary strongly regarding their adherence to the Nature of Science principles, particularly regarding socio-scientific issues, such as, for instance, vaccination. It requires dedicated reasoning skills, often referred to as critical thinking, to assess and value the arguments regarding such issues.

To stimulate critical thinking, we investigate the use of interactive concept cartoons. Instead of a single cartoon our instrument provides a sequence of concept cartoons. The cartoons are alternated with a diagram and concepts that learners have to place in the diagram, leading to a systems’ view on the subject matter.

The instrument has been presented to teachers for expert review and evaluated in three classrooms (6th grade) of one school (70 learners). In this paper, we present the interactive concept cartoon instrument and report on the study. The results indicate that learners are engaged when working with the instrument and learn relevant knowledge regarding the subject matter and the Nature of Science.

Keywords

  • Interactive concept cartoons
  • Nature of Science
  • K-12
  • Diagrams

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Patricia Kruit & Bert Bredeweg

  2. Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bert Bredeweg

Authors
  1. Patricia Kruit
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  2. Bert Bredeweg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Kruit .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés (Madrid), Spain

    Carlos Alario-Hoyos

  2. Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia

    María Jesús Rodríguez-Triana

  3. Open University Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Maren Scheffel

  4. Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez

  5. Graz University of Technology and Know-Center, Graz, Austria

    Sebastian Maximilian Dennerlein

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Kruit, P., Bredeweg, B. (2020). Interactive Concept Cartoons: Exploring an Instrument for Developing Scientific Literacy. In: Alario-Hoyos, C., Rodríguez-Triana, M.J., Scheffel, M., Arnedillo-Sánchez, I., Dennerlein, S.M. (eds) Addressing Global Challenges and Quality Education. EC-TEL 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12315. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57717-9_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57717-9_35

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-57716-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-57717-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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