How Animated Quizzes Assist Sixth Form Students

To Learn Biology In A Collaborative Way

Yeap Chee Beng

SMJK Perempuan China Pulau Pinang

Abstract
Animated quizzes can guide students to learn and master certain subtopics in
advanced level Biology through focal concept visualization. These quizzes helps students
to discover misconception instantly for every subtopic. A large number of research studies
has emphasized the importance of animations for the understanding of biology concepts
for long-term memory retention and able to engage students to a greater extent of interest
in studying Biology rather than solely relying on the conventional method, i.e. by using
textbook materials. Furthermore, the quiz-driven animations appear to be superior to static
images for learners with low spatial-visualization ability. This method enhanced students
to gain better understanding and become more constructive in conceptual learning.

1.0 Reflection in The Past Teaching & Learning Process

Over the years of teaching the sixth formers in SMJK Perempuan China Pulau
Pinang, there often comes a time when I feel anxious over the students’ weak performance
in grasping the concept and answering well in the examination. I seek from the books and
online resources for inspiration to change the nature of dependence on conventional
learning which is unidirectional. In majority, students struggle to understand the learning
outcomes, especially among the slow learners. It is common that the students who lack
the understanding for certain key terms and how to use them accurately will make poor
scores in the examinations.

What do we mean when we say that we want students to understand, as opposed

to merely take in and recall? How is it possible for a student to know lots of essential
biological facts but not understand what they mean — something we have all seen as
teachers? And vice versa…. How can another student make lots of mistakes about the
answers and not even able to do all the assigned work — but nonetheless penetrate to
the key ideas, and eventually obtain excellent grades?
 Learning is a process requiring effort in which the learner actively constructs her
own meaning that is consistent with prior ideas. The ability of a learner to learn well
depends on her ability to integrate previous knowledge with new ones and apply it
accurately and flawlessly.

Therefore, I hope, by conducting this action research, I could guide my students to

have the desire to learn on their own pace and demonstrate the tendency for making
connections among biological concepts.

2.0 Action Research Focus

Virtual animation equipped quizzes can trigger the process of digesting knowledge
and return the learning initiative back to the students. The traditional unilateral, forced
feeding style of teaching limits the student’s joy, speed and ability to learn on her own
pace. When all that is taught is meant for examination orientation only, students lose their
motivation for learning quickly. By changing the classroom focus to learning, thinking and
expressing, desire to learn comes naturally, thus this initiative eventually drives better
results.

3.0 Action Research Objectives

With the aids of online resources such as animations which accompanied by
quizzes, students could gain a reinforcing approach to curriculum by engaging students in
personal convenient advancement pace.

4.0 Target Group

Lower Six Biology students of Year 2017/2018: L6SB (12 students) and L6SC (4
students)

5.0 Implementation
This action research is conducted on Lower Sixth Form Science stream students
who take Biology subject for academic year 2017/2018. The topic of interest in this study
is “Cellular Respiration”, raising particular attention to the concept of how energy is
released from organic molecules and mostly transferred to energy carriers like ATP.
Throughout the study, the students were taught of the roles of the energy carriers;
incorporated this understanding into four stages of cellular respiration; and described the
roles of cofactors in the respiratory enzymes.

This study which bears an interventional approach had been carried out for two
weeks in year 2017. All sixteen students had attended the lesson on how organic fuel
molecules such as glucose are oxidized during cellular respiration, in the form of static
graphics from the book and relevant explanation with the use of Microsoft Power Point
software. In the Power Point lessons, students were taught of the series of enzyme
catalysed reactions in glycolysis, link reaction, Krebs cycle as well as electron transport
chain coupled with chemiosmosis.

Soon after, a set of pre-test with five key learning areas was given to the students
prior to the animation display, followed by post-test. The students made attempts in
answering the fifteen items of multiple choice questions. The pre-test served as a formative
assessment instrumental tool for evaluating how much they could understand the cellular
respiration based on static graphic display. Consequently, the students were distributed
with a Chrome Book device. The relevant links for three animations explaining the same
five key learning areas were given to the students. The students were required to watch
each animation and made attempts in answering the post-test on their own after paired
discussion.

The respective learning areas and test items were listed as follows:
Learning Area Items

A. How Glycolysis Works (1/8/2018) 5

(http://novella.mhhe.com/sites/0070070017/student_view0/biology_1/
chapter_9/how_glycolysis_works.html)

B. How the Krebs Cycle Works (4/8/2018)

(http://novella.mhhe.com/sites/0070070017/student_view0/biology_1/
chapter_9/how_the_krebs_cycle_works__quiz_2_.html) 5
 C. Electron Transport System and ATP Synthesis (8/8/2018) 5

(http://novella.mhhe.com/sites/0070070017/student_view0/biology_1/
chapter_9/electron_transport_system_and_atp_synthesis.html)

Discussion
• Students complete a biology concept inventory pre-test.

• Teacher identifies erratic concepts from the pre-test.

• Students are guided through appropriate animations that feature the erratic

concepts.

• Students view three animations at their convenient time.

• Students discuss among themselves for five minutes then follow by trying the

quizzes.

• As a concept reinforcement, the teacher throws HOTS-driven questions to guide

students for mastering certain subtopics afterwards.

• Example:

1. Identify the similarities or differences between aerobic respiration and

photosynthesis after viewing these animations.
2. Compare the ATP synthesis in mitochondria and chloroplast.

A fundamental intention of the data analysis was to determine how effective the
animation could help students to extract and understand information to answer the
questions in the test. Of particular interest was, how well they were able to capture
information and successfully retain it. A related issue is that of what aspects of the
information extracted during interaction with the animation became incorporated into the
student’s knowledge structures, such that they could be called upon in building a mental
model that better addresses the core concept of cellular respiration.

This research used Microsoft Excel to present the analytical results for pre-test and
post-test. The target groups were L6SB and L6SC students of Penang Chinese Girls’ High
School in year 2017.
 The mean and standard deviation of L6SB and L6SC were determined as follows:

Statistical Report
Pre-Test Post-Test Pre-Test Post-Test
L6SB L6SB L6SC L6SC

Mean 8.44 13.12 6.76 10.16

N 15 15 15 15
Std.
Deviation 5.370 3.096 5.467 3.444

The results were further put under a closer investigation for each item. Refer to
the graph below, 11 out of 15 items (88%) in L6SB and 10 out of 15 items (76%) in L6SC
portrayed improvement in the post-test, thus showing an increasing number of students
who answered the items correctly.

There was a zero change for the difference between the results of pre-test and
post-test in L6SB for item 1 and item 9. This indicated the students either failed to obtain
information from the animations efficiently, did not capture the explanation during the
narration of the animation, misled by the explanation in the animation, persistently
convinced of self-believed concept (the explanation of the animation was insufficiently
convincing) or was still not sure which one was the truly accurate answer.
Animation 1 : “How the Glycolysis Cycle Works”

The graph showed 62.50% of the students (n=16) who could score at least 3 marks
in the test items Question 1 to Question 5. Meanwhile, there were 1 student, 2 in L6SB
and 2 in L6SC, were recorded a score loss of one mark in the post-test.

Item 4: Majority of L6SB made an improvement over their post-test result. In other
words, a number of 8 students had changed for the better. In L6SC, an increase of 3
students in the Item 4 of the post-test revealed that they learned about the correct answer
from the narrated animation. In the pre-test, they opted for the opposite answer, which
may mean one thing: just go for the wild card. Apparently they had made wrong
assumption when they tried their luck.

However, the performance of L6SC class was not satisfactory in Item 2 and Item
3 as they did not obtain better results in the post-test.

Item 2: Students seemed to be confused by the distractor in one of the options. In

precise, students should understand the meaning of “net result of a single glycolysis”,
whereby the accurate answer should be 2 ATP instead of 4 ATP.
Animation 2 : “How the Krebs Cycle Works”

The graph showed 25% of mark gain for 4 students among the total of 16 students
who attended test items Question 6 to Question 10. Meanwhile among 16 students, 3 in
L6SB and 1 in L6SC, were recorded a score loss in the post-test. This indicated that this
topic was relatively harder for students to understand than the others. There is a girl in
L6SB class who recorded a full score in this post-test.

Item 10: Surprisingly, this was the only item where L6SB students had recorded a serious
decline in the post-test. A difference of 3 students between pre-test and post-test was
noted. Possible reason for this to happen was that the students failed to streamline the
concept in the animation with the knowledge they had learned. They may have either
made a careless mistake or derived wrong facts by missing the statement in the animation
about the point where decarboxylation occurs twice. In fact, two carbon dioxide molecules
are produced during Krebs cycle: One during decarboxylation of Oxalosuccinate to α –
Ketoglutarate and another during decarboxylation of α – Ketoglutarate to succinyl CoA.

I am aware of this erratic conception as soon as the students had chosen the
inaccurate answer, thus I have made a detailed explanation about decarboxylation and
pointed out the exact sites for carbon dioxide production.
Animation 3 : Electron Transport System and ATP Synthesis”

The graph showed 75% of mark gain, of whom 12 students (n = 16) improved in
their results for the test items Question 11 to Question 15. Meanwhile a total of 1 students
were recorded a score loss – 1 students in L6SB with a score loss of one mark; 2 student
in L6SC with a score loss of one mark; and 1 student in L6SC with a score loss of two
marks – in the post-test.

Item 13: From 5 students who answered correctly in the pre-test, the condition was
greatly improved into 10 students (n = 16) in the post-test. Students successfully beat the
trap given in the question. To determine the function of ATP synthetase, the students
should explored how the electron transport chain generates a proton gradient across the
inner mitochondrial membrane prior to ATP synthetase involves its crucial role in ATP
synthesis.

Item 15: There are total of 14 students indicated that they had truly retained their
understanding of electron transport chain. The teacher reminded them that the cellular
respiration is the transfer of electrons from reduced electron carriers such as NADH and
coenzyme Q to oxygen, which produces water. The oxygen requirement for these
reactions is the reason why animals breathe.

The learning feedback has prompted me to drill the students in further

understanding the overall mechanism of ATP synthesis.
6.0 Reflective Comments Made by My Students
“Online animations are great for getting the terms into mind. The animations really show

the bigger picture … . I would prefer to use both in combination to study for my first time
and for revision.”

“I prefer the figure with text because I can go at my own pace… . I also learn better as I

am able to pause and repeat...”

Regarding graphics: “[I] tend to notice names of components more,” and animation: “[I] get
an overall picture of what is happening.”

Animations are much more effective for “dynamic events or a series of occurrences.”

“… animation was much easier to follow than the series of static diagrams.”

“I learn very slowly… . combination of both would be great!”

“Animations are preferred if I have to pick one, but I feel the figures with text are also

helpful in conjunction with the animation.”

“Easier to review something specific …” with static graphics.

“Personally, I understood the process better after viewing the animation.”

“The Calvin and Krebs cycle are clearer in the animation compared with the graphic… .”

“Together the animation with narration was a great learning tool.”

“I prefer animations to be downloadable rather than part of an online website.”

“Problem posed: I don’t always have access to a computer. Preferably it can be viewed

offline”

“I’m a visual learner, so seeing how the sequence of events … unfold in a video helps

me to learn better. It is also much better because the labels are not everywhere which
can be confusing.”

“… after watching the animation, I felt like I will never forget these study materials.”

“… because animations can do two or more things at the same time, it allows the students

to pay more attention to these things.”

“I like animations because they provide accurate pronunciation.”

7.0 Summary
In summary, many students expressed the opinion in different ways that graphics
are more useful than animations for making study notes because it is easier to find points
with static text and pictures. Most students also indicated that each has its benefits and
they would prefer to have access to both in the learning process.

A large portion of the recognition in cooperative learning classrooms depends on

the whole groups’ success on the task, rather than one student outperforming others.
Therefore I believe students could do better when they work in team (at least two learning
partners) to conquer and master certain subtopic.
8.0 Bibliography
Katie M. Reind, 2015. The Virtual Cell Animation Collection: Tools for Teaching Molecular
and Cellular Biology. PLOS Biology DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002118 April 9, 2015.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002118&type=p
rintable

Animation Quiz Site

http://novella.mhhe.com/sites/0070070017/student_view0/index.html

Danton H. O’ Day, 2007. The Value of Animations in Biology Teaching: A Study of

LongTerm Memory Retention. CBE — Life Sciences Education Vol. 6, 217–223.

Danton H. O’ Day, 2006. Animated Cell Biology: A Quick and Easy Method for Making
Effective, High-Quality Teaching Animations. CBE—Life Sciences Education Vol. 5, 255–
263. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618697/

Kimberly Tanner, 2005. Approaches to Biology Teaching and Learning: Understanding the
Wrong Answers—Teaching toward Conceptual Change. Cell Biology Education. Vol.
4, 112–117.

Yosi Rotbain, 2007. Using a Computer Animation to Teach High School Molecular Biology.
Springer Journal of Science Education Technology 17:49–58.