Incorporating the use of comics in the secondary mathematics teaching of the order of operations

Abstract

Abstract This study explored the use of comics in teaching secondary mathematics students the topic of ‘Order of Operations’. The focus was to improve students’ achievement with the use of comics as a tool to enhance the learning process and at the same time develop students’ interest in learning mathematics. A total of 33 Year 7 students from one of the secondary schools in Brunei Darussalam were involved in this study. Using an action research as the design research approach, two sets of comics relating to the concept of Order of Operations were used to teach students during the intervention lessons. A pre-test was given prior to the lessons, and then a post-test after the intervention lessons were completed. The results between the scores of the students’ pre- and post-tests showed improvements in their performance, indicating that the use of comics does help students in a way in learning the topic of the Order of Operations. Throughout the intervention sessions where comics were incorporated, students’ reactions to comics were taken into account through classroom observations as part of the analysing process. A few selected students were interviewed to give their feedbacks and their thoughts on using comics during lessons. While most had positive views towards comics in general with the majority stating that using comics made the lessons fun and interesting, there were also those who found comics not suitable to be used in the educational setting. The overall findings suggested that using comics have the potential to be used as a tool for teachers to facilitate their students’ learning.

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