Comics in education

Overview

The effectiveness of comics as medium for effective learning and development has been the subject of debate since the origin modern comic book in the 1930s. Sones (1944) notes that comics "evoked more than a hundred critical articles in educational and non-professional periodicals."

The use of comics in education would later attract the attention of Fredric Wertham who noted that the use of comics in education represented "an all-time low in American science."

It has been noted that the use of a narrative form such as a comic "can foster pupils' interest in science" and help students remember what they have learnt and providing a means of fostering discussion. However, it has also been noted that many educators remain "ambivalent" about the use of comic books as an educational tool. Comics have also been used as a medium to communicate health care information on subjects such as diabetes.

In 1978, Pendulum Press published a primer on the value of comics as an educational tool: The Illustrated Format: an Effective Teaching Tool (). In the US, the use of comics for education, using the Internet, can be seen on Comics in the Classroom, and the state of Maryland's Comic Book Initiative. Teacher professional development content on how teachers can integrate comics into the classroom is available through the State of California Department of Education's Brokers of Expertis website.

Notes

References

1. Gruenberg, S. (1944). "The Comics as a Social Force". American Sociological Association.
2. Hutchinson, K. (1949). "An experiment in the use of comics as instructional material". American Sociological Association.
3. Sones, W. (1944). "The comics and instructional method". American Sociological Association.
4. Wright, B. (2001). "Comic book nation: The transformation of Youth Culture in America.". Johns Hopkins University Press.
5. Dorrell, Larry. (1995). "Book-Worms Without Books? Students Reading Comic Books in the School House". The Journal of Popular Culture.
6. Negrete, Aquiles. (September 2004). "Learning from education to communicate science as a good story". Endeavour.
7. Nagata, Ryoichi. (October 1999). "Learning next term biochemistry through manga — helping students learn and remember, and making lectures more exciting". Elsevier Science Ltd.
8. Versaci, Rocco. (Nov 2001). "How Comic Books Can Change the Way Our Students See Literature: One Teacher's Perspective". National Council of Teachers of English.
9. Norton, Bonny. (Oct 2003). "The Motivating Power of Comic Books: Insights from Archie Comic Readers". Reading Teacher.
10. Pieper, Claudia. (Sep 2000). "Comic as an education method for diabetic patients and general population". Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.
11. [http://myboe.org/portal/default/Content/Viewer/Content;jsessionid=y8iNl8CeqhEb3zl6cDzfMw**?action=2&scId=100191 USA Experience]