The effect of animated films on the epistemological development of child

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effects of information types in animated films on 6th-grade middle school students' learning skills. The study was carried out with 70 volunteer students who attended a public middle school in a village in Oğuzeli district of Gaziantep in the 2019-2020 academic year. The participant 6th-graders were from low socio-economic families. The study was designed in an embedded pattern, which was one of the mixed-method approaches. There were 24 students in the experimental group in which animated movies were watched, 23 students in the placebo group where children's films were watched, and 23 in the control group where Turkish lessons were taught without films. The qualitative data about student and researcher experiences were included in the experimental process. The quantitative data were analyzed using a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test and case study methodologies. The study adopted a 3x3 quasi-experimental design, including experimental, control, and placebo groups. The quantitative data were collected with an Information Types Assessment Tool (ITAT), developed by the researcher and verified by expert opinion. The qualitative data were collected with The Assessment Form for the Information Types (AFIT), a semi-structured interview form, and student and researcher diary. The experimental process lasted for 12 weeks, including the pre-test and post-tests. The follow-up test was conducted at the end of the experimental process and six weeks after the post-test. The research results indicated a significant difference in posttest scores of those who watched the animated movie. There was also a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the post-tests. It was concluded that animated films had a meaningful and permanent effect on students' learning information types. Besides, following the data related to student diaries and interviews revealed that the experimental group students could permanently learn the types of information through animated films and enjoyed such lessons