USING COMIC IN TEACHING DISTANCE TIME GRAPHS FOR UPPER SECONDARY STUDENTS

Nelson, Burton, and Bennett (2010) argued that most students dislike learning mathematics due to the struggles they encounter in grasping different mathematical concepts. Mathematics is challenging and continues to be more difficult as the levels of classes rise. When compared to other science subjects mathematics is considered to be the most unpopular among the many existing subjects. During the developmental stages of children, the parents introduce their children to counting using fingers while others buy toys, which they use to teach their children before they join the school. The levels of learning of children as they grow differ depending on the environments in which they are brought up. However, the group of individuals who do not understand mathematics theoretically require visual aids which could help them to be more brilliant.

The modern society in Brunei Darussalam requires the introduction of new techniques of learning that are inclusive of all the different categories of students. Both the fast students and the slow students or those that cannot learn without visual aids should be considered in the various school curriculums (Sharma, 2013). Concerning this issue, it is evident that there is the need to introduce comics in the learning of mathematical concepts in Brunei’s school. The plotting of distance-time graphs is one of the most tasking mathematical concepts for young students aged below 16 years to understand. According to the researcher’s personal experience and observation, most students in school do not practice different mathematical concepts that they learn in the classroom. Most of them spend their time in other activities such as playing video games instead of practicing mathematics.

When they are faced with tests and examinations, they find it difficult to remember mathematical formulas required for them to answer particular questions. Additionally, the researcher has personally observed few classes in one of the government schools in Brunei and informally interviewing few mathematics teachers from various schools that a large number of students find it easy to answer questions which are related to visual concepts. For instance, a learner may fail to answer questions related to velocity and motion when they are presented in the theoretical form. Also, it will include a detailed analysis of the methodologies that can be effective when entering comics in the study of distance-time graphs. The students will understand how to interpret comics to learn different mathematical concepts specifically for a distance-time graph for the researcher’s research study.

Research questions The research questions in this study propose to answer the following: 1. How does introducing comics help to improve students’ understanding of the distance-time graph? 2. What is the students’ perception of using comic in improving their mathematics concept? 3. The students are also considered to be more relaxed when using visual comics as they are more interesting than being used to textual and theoretical learning. Using pictures can help the students to express their ideas better as compared to the dependence on theories learned in the classroom. Scope and limitations Conducting this research will be inhibited by a few factors. Only one school was involved in this study where only two classes who are taking IGCSE Mathematics will be participating. Since this is a convenient sampling, the results and findings of this study cannot be used as a general representation of the whole population (that is, to all Brunei’s secondary school populations).

Novel styles allow for the premising of the perceptions of learning around it being a process that uses prior interpretations to construe either revised or new interpretations of the meaning of one's experiences can then help guide their actions in the future. Transformative approaches place more weight on addressing the challenges surrounding the delivery of skills and content in a productive manner that improves the learning outcomes of students (Rotherham & Willingham, 2010; Silva, 2009). One of these transformative approaches is the use of comics. The application of art of comic creates an extention of the facts provided by the books thereby facilitating the student to understand the concepts in question more easily. (McVicker, 2007). Equally, they guide the audience to develop spatial relationships within the theory being learned.

Furthermore, instilling critical mathematical ideas to the learners requires them to remain attentive throughout and the only way to ensure this would be presenting them with comics that relate to the mathematical ideas being taught (Van Garderen, 2016). Notably, retaining mathematical skills requires more than just introducing the figurative concepts. Thus, one way to ensure that students develop a full interest in mathematics would be to provide them with a lively learning environment that could be possible by including comics as teaching tools. Even more, engaged learning can be achieved by visualizing the knowledge being transmitted. These may include linking the concept to the behavior, causality, or the process itself. Thus, finding a sustainable solution to such challenges is critical if mathematical skills are to be well developed among students.

However, visualization may not be helpful to all students, which is why it is crucial to use a combination of different approaches to teach mathematics. The use of jokes as a comic is appropriate in teaching as it creates attention of the student. In addition it breaks the issue of boredom to the learners of mathematics hence impressing the readers during the study (H-Y Phoon at al, 2018). Comics reduce reported student’s anxiety levels in mathematics (Şengül & Dereli, 2010). They also increase the level of enjoyment and engagement for teachers in pre-service terms when exposed during mathematical course contents (Cho, Osborne & Sanders, 2015). The comic application can include enticement for children less motivated in mathematical concepts. While comics were banned from schools in the past premised on them being perceived as ‘enemies’ to the learning process, their potential in developing the interest of students in various academic subjects continues to be realised (Wanzer, Frymier & Irwin, 2010).

Their use does not necessarily have to distract children to the learning process if their construction is appropriately based on sound pedagogical principles (Toh et al. for instance, in graphs that represents a movement, the learners tend to confuse its slope line that shows the distance over time with the direction of the movement. The learners usually confuse the acceleration for the movement in the northwest direction (Berg & Smith, 1994). This is a clear indication that most of the student faces some challenges in getting the connection that exist between the graph and the information that the graph represent. Culbertson and Powers (1959) postulated the reasons underlying difficulties in construction, reading and interpreting line graphs being their abstract representation of data and sparseness of information.

The TOGS (Test of Graphing in Science) test of Padilla et al. According to (Lobato et al. , 2013), when conducting research, it is fundamental first to identify the problem to be solved then come up with amicable solutions that can be used to solve the problem in the long run. Framework Description Pre-Test • Test questions will be extracted from textbooks that are endorsed by Cambridge • It will also contain 2 questions from Past Year Papers - recent Lesson Intervention • Introducing Distance-Time using comics • Learning sheets in comic form for students learning and students creation Post-Test • Similar questions to the pre-test but with different values used Questionnaires and Interview • Questionnaires will be distributed to students after the post-test • Few students will be selected for interviews, mainly focusing on students that show improvements and/or not Table 1: Framework of the study Therefore, the research design plan will include identifying the group of individuals who are faced with difficulties in learning due to lack of visual aids.

The analysis of the problem and the effects it has on the students will also be included as part of the research design. Furthermore, there will be the analysis of the existing solutions to the highlighted problems in the long run. The research will begin by recalling previous contents about Straight Line Graphs and Speed. Following this content, a pre-test will be carried out to obtain answers that will be used for analysis in order to determine their misconceptions and understanding of different concepts of graphical representation. Intervention process Before introducing the problem in cycle one, the researcher will directly address misconceptions of the mathematical concepts among the learners in the class. The first cycle will be introduced as a mental guidance to the students concerning Straight Line Graphs and Speed and to help in observing their discussion regarding their shared ideas.

This cycle will serve as a starting point to the students concerning the topic of distance-time graphs because they will remember basic concepts and start brainstorming about them considering that they are applicable in advanced levels of graphical representation. Also, this will be carried out to evaluate and determine their level of understanding in mathematical concepts through the implementation of comic as well as determining how such learning experience will affect their understanding in plotting and interpreting distance-time graphs. A closed-ended questionnaire will help to limit the kind of answers that the students will provide concerning the use of the comic material in learning mathematics. It will help in validating the current comic study; it will equip the researcher with enough information concerning perceptions of the students (Hendricks, 2006).

Breakdown of the action research process The research study will include some processes which will be chronologically followed to ensure enough and reliable data is collected for the research. Plan The intervention of using comics in teaching will be projected to be completed within three or four lessons from the time of initiation as the topic of Distance-Time Graph is a big topic in IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) examination where it incorporates few topics in one. The selection process will be aided by the available mentors within the school. The last step will entail the introduction of the comic materials to the students whereby they will use them to study different mathematical concepts that incorporate graphs of distance-time.

The participants will be provided with a period of two weeks where observations will be made on their progress. Observation Observations will be made during the lessons where the progress of the students in participating, performances and answering questions related to graphs of distance-time will be recorded. This process will involve keeping a journal during every lesson which will act to serve as a field note. The interview questions will be brief and the research can probe the interview questions based on the students’ responses but maintaining the content of the interview questions. Interviews will be conducted two days a week for the period of study within the school. The researcher will use interview questions adapted from Palacios and Gonzales (2002). The interview questions are as follows (still tentative): 1.

Can you tell me whether or not you liked the idea of using comic for learning distance-time graphs, whether you like to read comics and whether you have a good time doing it? 2. Also, piloting will help in validating questionnaires to ensure that questions are in line with the research subject. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Questions 1 2 3 4 5 1 I enjoyed learning mathematics using comics 2 I thought comics is not going to work on mathematics 3 I improved a lot when learning mathematics using comics 4 I think using comics is very useful for me Ethical issues The researcher will ensure the safety and privacy of research participants by keeping their names and learning institutions anonymous. None of the participants will be forced to undertake the survey and this will be ensured by having every one of them fill a consent form as a sign of agreeing to the terms and conditions of the survey.

The research will follow the right channel by seeking permission from the concerned authorities such as informing parents/guardians, school management in Brunei and learning institution. Each of these stakeholders will be expected to sign a consent form. doi:10. 17485/ijst/2016/v9i16/78812 Doolittle, P.  E. , & Camp, W.  G. Victoria: Deaken University Press. Lobato, J. , Hohensee, C. , & Rhodehamel, B. Students' mathematical noticing. Pathak, R. P. The methodology of Educational Research. India: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. Perales‐Palacios, F. Sharma, H. Effectiveness of video instructional material in educational psychology for B. Ed. students of Madhya Pradesh. Science Technology & Management. Learning Science and Mathematics Online Journal, 2014(1), 1-10. Van den Berg, E. Making IBSE durable through pre-service teacher education. Kaplan, M. , & Pascoe, C. doi. org/10. 1339344 H-Y Phoon, R Roslan, M Shahrill, H M Said, & R C I Prahmana.