The development of an education tool to learn about “Immune system” using anime characters and ICT

Abstract

In basic biology, it is well known that the field of immunity is difficult to teach because of the lack of experimental tools. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an education tool for learning about the immune system in basic biology, which does not require an experiment. A developed tool was composed of some illustrations with anime characters concerning each process in the immune system. Students participated in illustration sorting using Google Jamboard by doing pair-work and explained the process of the immune system using their results of sorting. Questionnaires were conducted to evaluate the developed tool from the aspect of knowledge acquisition and interest. According to the result of the questionnaire of knowledge acquisition, the students who used the developed tool got high scores compared to the students who learned from lecture. From the results of the questionnaire of the interest, it seems that the former students were able to participate in classes with high interest. The activity of illustration sorting using Google Jamboard would have a positive effect on student’s mindset and would derive high knowledge acquisition. On the other hand, the developed tool would be required some improvements, e.g., a care for student who confused interpretation of illustrations.