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Comics in Education

Page history last edited by Allene Nichols 12 years ago

Comics in Education

Comics have been used in grade school, high school, and college classrooms as a main topic or to enhance a variety of subjects. This article discusses how and why comics are used in language arts classrooms, in other subjects, and in the education of comic artists.

Why use comics in the classroom?

For most people, comics seem to hold a high level of interest. While little research is available on whether high interest leads to positive outcomes in the classroom, much anecdotal evidence suggest that this is the case. As Jim Ottaviani explained in an interview “People will read comics rather than, say, the 9/11 commission report.”

Students live in a world where information is increasingly conveyed in both words and pictures. In her dissertation, Heidi Kay Hammond quotes R. Brenner as stating that “this kind of literacy is not only new but vital in interacting with and succeeding in our multimedia world.”

Approaches to comics in the classroom

In his article on using comics in the classroom, Kerry Cheesman suggests using comics as attention-getters or as a starting point for discussions and critical thinking. He lists the following reasons for using comics as attention-getters:

They set a positive tone for most students because looking at comics is enjoyable.
They get the students’ attention.
They encourages timely arrival because students don’t want to miss an interesting introduction.

He also lists the following uses for comics:

They can help create a smooth transition from one topic to another.
They can relieve tension after students get bad test results.
They can be used to determine whether students are paying attention when they contain silly or contradictory elements.

In “A Rare Bridge: The Comic Book Project Connects Learning to Life,” Michael Bitz suggests that having students draw their own comics is another use of the medium in the classroom. Having students create comics reinforces concepts, can be used in groups to teach communication skills,and teaches students how to work through a process.

While Cheesman’s article is interested mostly in single pane cartoons, M. Tatalovic looks at the use of comic books in the classroom. While suggesting a number of good uses for comic books in the science classroom, which are discussed below, the author seems to veer away from their use as a primary text. These are the reasons:

“If the text in comics is overly didactic it may easily lose connection with the story that is being told resulting in a less interesting read.”
“Another concern in using comics instead of textbooks is that no one has yet looked at whether comics are still preferred medium by children once its novelty factor has been worn out.”
“If science is made to be fun by use of striking artwork in comics, the artwork might misrepresent the actual science.”
There might not always be a great plot to accompany educational material

Using comics to teach language art and literature

The use of graphic novels in literature and language arts classrooms typify a trend in teaching literature in which various forms of media are introduced either to support a work of literature or as literary objects of value in their own right. This trend is exemplified in most major literature textbooks for grade school and high school students. In addition to studying the short story, students might be asked to analyze photos, drawings, or advertisements. The goal is to achieve a high level of literacy in both the written word and the image. This is sometimes referred to as multi-modal literacy.

According to Hammond, recent studies about using graphic novels in the classroom support the fact that they can be used to motivate reluctant readers and aid comprehension for less skilled readers. While most teachers would probably balk at using only comics in their classroom, comics can be used as primary texts when they function as part of a larger system. For instance, if a graphic novel is read in class, other primary texts, such as novels, plays, books of poetry, and films might round out the curriculum

Although I have found little research on the issue of teaching comics to students with special needs, my experience in the special needs classroom suggests that comics can introduce students with learning differences to complex concepts that reading alone may foreclose. By combining text and image, sophisticated concepts can be introduced to students who function better when receiving information via multiple modes.

Using comics to teach other subjects

Tatalovic’s article discusses the use of graphic novels in the science classroom, but many of the points are valid for other subjects as well. For instance, the author suggests that fictional comics often refer to accurate scientific concepts and, when they do not, can be used to point out why a concept is portrayed inaccurately. This could also be applied to the historical or mathematical information in fictional comics.

Tatalovic echoes Cheesman’s idea that comics, being a high interest medium can be used to teach information that students consider to be dull. “By researching poor lab safety often depicted in comics students could be introduced to potentially dull issues in a visually entertaining way.”

Tatalovic further suggests that comics can be used to teach scientific ethics. As this is a subject often missing in primary science texts, such a use would extend and deepen the primary material.

Finally, Tatalovic mentions that a series of images is an excellent way to show experimental techniques. In this case, they could be clearer than text and, unlike a video, the experimenter could view several steps at once.

Teaching students to create comics

Few art schools and universities teach comic art to art students. However, Jim Sturm suggests that such a course of study has a number of positive implications for today’s student and university. The passion that students have toward creating comics means that existing comics classes are well attended. Even in a computer-based multimedia curriculum, comics allow students to develop crucial skills in storytelling and sequencing before sitting down work on a computer. Such skills are marketable, in the fields of cartooning, computer gaming, film storyboarding, teaching, and direction, among others. Finally, “…with a sequential art program, an institution nurtures the intellectual stimulation of an art form and provides a sympathetic climate for its future practitioners. This is an ideal moment in time for colleges and universities to explore a sequential art curriculum.”