Origami Technique in the Teaching of Nucleic Acids

Abstract

In this study, the effect of the origami technique in the teaching of nucleic acids with which students have trouble understanding, has been investigated. While the topic was explained to the control group of 40 students with a traditional teacher-centered teaching method according to a previously prepared lesson plan created in terms of the curriculum, it was explained to the 40 students in the experimental group in an identical manner and then followed by creating models of the nucleic acids using the origami technique. In this study, in order to determine the knowledge levels of the teacher, candidates success test was applied to both groups as a pre-test and post-test. The data were analysed using SPSS 15.00 packet program. In the analysis of the data, Mann Whitney U and the Wilcoxon significance rank order tests were carried out. Another aim of this study was to determine the topic misconceptions held by the students by asking for 4 drawings and 5 classical explanation questions to the two groups both before and after the explanation of the topic. According to results, due to the use of the models with origami, the students in the experimental group had a higher increase in their levels of success, answered the classical explanation questions better and produce better drawings and also decreased their topic misconceptions to a level lower than that of the control group.