Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2603.24498

Using Educational Comics in Physics Teaching for Chemistry and Biochemistry Students: Impact on Motivation and Domain-Specific Conceptual Gains

Mauricio Echiburu·Camilo Henriquez·Rodrigo Valdés·Cristobal Ríos
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of educational comics as an active learning strategy in physics workshops for undergraduate students in Chemistry and Pharmacy and Biochemistry during the second semester of 2025. Conceptual understanding was assessed using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), and student motivation and attitudes toward physics were evaluated through a Likert-type survey administered in pre- and post-test formats. The results show an average normalized gain of g = 0.21 on the FCI, corresponding to a low-to-medium range according to physics education research. A higher gain is observed in items directly related to the intervened content (g = 0.23) compared to non-intervened items (g = 0.19), suggesting that instructional design influences domain-specific conceptual development. At the motivational level, improvements are observed in student interest, self-efficacy, and perceived usefulness of physics, along with a reduction in negative emotional responses toward the subject. These findings indicate that educational comics can serve as an effective pedagogical scaffold, promoting positive learning dispositions and supporting targeted conceptual development in non-physics undergraduate contexts.

Explore related subjects

physics.ed-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Mauricio Echiburu, Camilo Henriquez, Rodrigo Valdés, Cristobal Ríos. 2026-03-25. Using Educational Comics in Physics Teaching for Chemistry and Biochemistry Students: Impact on Motivation and Domain-Specific Conceptual Gains. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24498

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Johann Bernoulli's analysis of elastic collisions (a teaching sequence to introduce the dynamic law thereby inspired)

In order to explain an elastic collision, Johann Bernoulli considered two bodies connected by a spring. Motion is defined as a succession of states of rest. Then, considering the spring to be a lever with a body at each extremity, the laws of equilibrium imply that `motion' is described by the time variation of the (common) quantity of motion of the bodies; the dynamic law is thus deduced. This inspires a teaching sequence to introduce the dynamic law (in one dimension) in introductory physics course; we call it ``bernoullian sequence''.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2026

Design and Initial Evaluation of a Photovoltaics-focused Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience in Physics

Traditional physics laboratory courses often focus on experiments with well-known results, limiting students' engagement in authentic scientific practices. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), where students engage in real research with unknown outcomes, have been shown to support positive student outcomes, such as increased self-efficacy, persistence, and engagement in scientific practices. However, discipline-specific studies of CUREs in physics remain limited. We describe the development, structure, and initial implementation of a photovoltaics-focused CURE in a second-year undergraduate physics laboratory course at the University of Colorado Boulder. To examine how students experienced the course, we analyzed end-of-semester reflection assignments using the five CURE components (i.e., scientific practices, discovery, relevance, collaboration, and iteration), as well as established dimensions of research authenticity, as analytic frameworks. Students described experiences associated with all five CURE components, with collaboration, relevance, and scientific practices appearing most prominently in their reflections. Students also associated authentic research with meaningful scientific contribution, engagement in authentic scientific practices, and navigating the uncertainty and setbacks inherent in research, although fewer explicitly identified themselves as researchers or scientists. A subset of students additionally connected the course to their immediate thinking about future academic and professional pathways. This work contributes both a discipline-specific model for implementing CUREs in experimental physics laboratory courses and provides insight into how students interpret and experience authentic research within this course context.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2026

A Workshop Series for Effective Use of AI in Uncertain Times: Building a Physics Faculty Learning Community

Generative AI tools are being widely taken up by students in their physics courses and beyond, often before instructors and institutions can develop policies and effective approaches for the use of these tools. Building on a framework for change in the era of AI, we developed and implemented a faculty learning community to help a university physics department address these challenges collectively. Over six biweekly sessions, faculty worked through course policies, classroom conversations about AI, AI-integrated coursework tasks, and assessment. Each session shared a common structure: we presented local data and department-sourced materials, tested them in small groups, and discussed them together, emphasizing durable pedagogical approaches over specific tools and platforms, and leading with evidence of students' own AI use. The series produced a shared, evolving repository of resources for faculty to draw on. This workshop provides an adaptable, theoretically informed model for a faculty learning community that departments can build on.

physics.ed-ph↗