Comics as a tool for teaching alternative energy: effects on cognitive achievement, motivation, attitudes, and learning environment among sixth-grade students

Abstract

This study examined the effects of comic-based instruction in an alternative energy unit on sixth-grade students’ cognitive achievement, science learning motivation, attitudes toward alternative energy, and perceptions of the classroom learning environment. The study responded to the need for culturally and linguistically accessible science pedagogy in Arab elementary education and drew on cognitive multimedia learning, self-determination theory, and social constructivist learning. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control-group design was implemented with 120 sixth-grade students in an Arab public elementary school in northern Israel. The experimental group learned through Arabic educational comics that combined sequential visual panels, dialogue, local characters, and scientifically accurate representations of renewable and nonrenewable energy. The control group learned the same curriculum content through text-only materials, teacher explanation, and equivalent dialogue-based activities without cartoon panels. Data were collected using an achievement test, a motivation questionnaire, an attitudes scale, a learning environment inventory, open-ended student responses, and teacher reflections. Reliability values ranged from acceptable to excellent across the instruments. Repeated-measures mixed ANOVA indicated significant time by group effects for motivation, attitudes, learning environment, and achievement. Post-intervention achievement was higher in the experimental group (M = 80.10, SD = 7.81) than in the control group (M = 69.20, SD = 7.44), and the interaction effect was statistically significant, F(1, 118) = 48.22, p < .001, eta squared = .290. Correlations showed strong positive associations among motivation, attitudes, learning environment, and achievement. Regression analyses identified the post-intervention learning environment as the most consistent predictor of achievement. Qualitative themes showed that comics supported enjoyment, visualized scientific explanation, and collaborative participation. The findings suggest that culturally tailored comics can strengthen science learning by combining visual representation, narrative meaning, and supportive classroom interaction.