Cartooning in Biological Learning

Teaching bioscience subjects requires helping students understand complicated and abstract concepts. An effective method of helping students understand these abstract topics is the use of concept cartoons. Concept cartoons are cartoon-style drawings that illustrate everyday situations. In constructivism, learners create their own knowledge and understanding through exploring and interacting with the external world, reflecting on their experiences and building new knowledge on top of pre-existing knowledge. Here we demonstrate the effectiveness of using cartooning across three undergraduate biology modules at each level four to six to facilitate active learning. Students constructed and reconstructed their knowledge of genetics, cell signaling and cancer through self-generated cartoons. Seventy-nine students took part in the activity, working in teams of 2-6 members and turned a biological process into a cartoon. The evaluation of the activity involved a 10-question multiple-choice quiz and an 18-question survey using a 5-point scale and free-form comments. There was a significant statistical difference in performance when comparing cartooned and not cartooned subtopics. Student engagement scored an average of 4.8, learning scored 4.5, and understanding scored 4.2. Sixty eight percent of students stated that they preferred the cartooning activity over learning in a traditional question and answer format. In the free-form comments, students commonly cited improved understanding as a benefit to this activity. Beyond being a tool to learn the material, the cartooning activity proved beneficial in fostering teamwork among the student cohorts. Overall, cartooning proved to be an effective method in making abstract and complicated topics more approachable to students.