Analysis of Results

Students created political cartoons at the end of the colonial period unit and again at the culmination of the unit on the revolutionary war. There was limited instruction before the students illustrated their cartoons for the colonial period. Students were shown examples of political cartoons of the present and one or two from the past. The social studies text was used to demonstrate political cartoons from the colonial period. Cartoons created for that time period lacked symbolism and relevant text. Students basically illustrated an event from the period and labeled the picture with a heading advising the reader what the contents contained. Some students found the assignment too difficult and failed to turn in a cartoon.

During the revolutionary period, a separate lesson dealt exclusively with political cartoons of the past and present. More attention was paid to the political cartoons in the weekly Time for Kids and Scholastic News and a greater emphasis on individual student analysis of cartoons was conducted weekly political cartoons.

Students also analyzed the famous Boston Massacre cartoon with an emphasis on the illustrator's point of view. Students found colonists in the cartoon holding what they perceived to be rocks in the illustration. They also pointed out that the colonists in the illustration far outnumbered the soldiers. It appeared that they found analysis of political cartoons to be easier than in the past unit. Emphasis was placed on symbolism and the idea that less is more in creating an effective political cartoon.

The cartoons for the revolutionary period proved to be much better than during the colonial period. The following are some examples of the political cartoons created:

1. A small dog labeled colonists barked at an unfriendly lion labeled Britain with the caption, "Fight Back!"
2. An illustration of a Treaty of Paris document labeled, "Freedom."
3. A patriot and a loyalist with a wall between them.
4. A shoe (Britain) stomping on a cockroach (Colonies) with a caption, "Independence Never Dies."
5. A greedy looking King George sitting on the thrown surrounded by thirteen bags of tax money.
6. Two analog meters indicating the effect of the Battle of Saratoga.
7. A colonists dressed in tattered clothing selling his horse with a sign saying, "Sold, I have not money" on one half of the paper and on the other a happy king in a bathtub of gold bubbles.

Home
Purpose
Definitions of Critical Thinking
Teachers' Utilization of Critical Thinking in the Classroom
Correlation of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to Standardized Test Improvement
Methodology
Analysis of Results - Questionnaire Analysis
Analysis of Results - Cartoon Analysis
Analysis of Results - Analysis of Chapter Quiz
Analysis of the Individual Assignment
Analysis of Group Assignment
Teacher Analysis of Daily Lessons