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    Instructional Elements in Comic Strips

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    Comic strips can be an effective instructional tool in classrooms. They have several benefits - they can convey messages humorously, engage visual learners through images and text, and allow students to learn at their own pace by re-reading visual panels. Examples show how comic strips have illustrated concepts in math, such as imaginary numbers and geometry, and in English language learning, through dialogue and vocabulary in context. Their popularity among today's students can help bridge the gap between in-school and out-of-school learning.

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    Instructional Elements in Comic Strips

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    Anonymous
    328 views5 pages
    Comic strips can be an effective instructional tool in classrooms. They have several benefits - they can convey messages humorously, engage visual learners through images and text, and allow students to learn at their own pace by re-reading visual panels. Examples show how comic strips have illustrated concepts in math, such as imaginary numbers and geometry, and in English language learning, through dialogue and vocabulary in context. Their popularity among today's students can help bridge the gap between in-school and out-of-school learning.

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    Comic strips can be an effective instructional tool in classrooms. They have several benefits - they can convey messages humorously, engage visual learners through images and text, and allow students to learn at their own pace by re-reading visual panels. Examples show how comic strips have illustrated concepts in math, such as imaginary numbers and geometry, and in English language learning, through dialogue and vocabulary in context. Their popularity among today's students can help bridge the gap between in-school and out-of-school learning.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    328 views5 pages

    Instructional Elements in Comic Strips

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous
    Comic strips can be an effective instructional tool in classrooms. They have several benefits - they can convey messages humorously, engage visual learners through images and text, and allow students to learn at their own pace by re-reading visual panels. Examples show how comic strips have illustrated concepts in math, such as imaginary numbers and geometry, and in English language learning, through dialogue and vocabulary in context. Their popularity among today's students can help bridge the gap between in-school and out-of-school learning.

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    of 5

    Instructional Elements in Comic Strips

    When it comes to using new and innovative tools in teaching and learning, comic
    strips provide several elements that can greatly benefit students of different ages.
    The most apparent benefit of using comics in classrooms is their abilities to reach
    out to different audiences. Furthermore, comic strips can improve students
    engagement and learning in general. The following are some instructional
    elements of using comic strips in todays classrooms that can positively play a
    big role in learning and acquiring knowledge.

    Humorous

    Comic strips have the ability to convey messages in humorous and fun ways. As
    a math teacher, one of the difficulties that students have is to associate math with
    fun. Thus, I believe that comic strips are an efficient way to mix fun with learning
    math concepts. For instance, in the example below, the comic strip illustrates the
    concept of imaginary numbers in mathematics through the use of characters in a
    humorous context. By definition, an imaginary number when squared gives a
    negative number, and the illustration below does an excellent job introducing the
    concept of imaginary numbers through the use of numbered characters.


    Source: http://www.math-problem-solving.com/funny_math_cartoons.html




    Visual

    In a research study aimed to compare text to images, Sones (1944) found that
    comics' visual quality increases learning. In fact, several different researches that
    Ive come across in the past all agree on the findings that image and visual
    representations can help improve students problem solving skills and
    capabilities. Comic strips are a perfect mixture of images and text, which is very
    beneficial to visual learners in particular. However, given the quality and
    characteristics of learners nowadays who depend on learning via various visual
    tools, comic strips can provide much similar learning qualities. In fact, the
    implementation of colors, different backgrounds, and uniquely designed
    characters can help both engagement and attention. Although it is two
    dimensional in nature, comic strips can give the illusion of the mobility of its
    characters as well as more alive facial and gesture expressions.
    The example below is a great representation of certain geometry concepts
    through comics. Using role-play, the wife triangle is a right triangle (90 degree
    triangle) that happens to be always right (as in what most husbands would say
    about their spouses in real life). The character gets the readers attentions about
    different concepts and math terminologies such as hypotenuse, obtuse, and
    isosceles. I think this particular connection of certain math concepts to real life
    through characters can definitely make learning math more alive and engaging,
    not to mention that it can greatly help minimize the math anxiety among math
    students.



    http://www.pinterest.com/pin/61150507411151262/





    Permanent

    Yang (2003) mentions how comics can be considered permanent, visual
    components. In other words, the visual permanence of comics empowers the
    readers to read at their own pace. Yang (2003) makes his argument using the
    example of film and animation; for these two mediums he noted that learners do
    not have any control over the pace of the scenes and sequences since the movie
    producers dictate them. However, in comics the pace of learning can only be
    determined with how fast the learner is moving his eyes across the page.
    Therefore, students are empowered to choose the pace that suits their learning
    needs. I personally find Yangs argument quite interesting due to the fact that as
    a non-native speaker of English, I had always found comics to be an excellent
    medium to learn the English language. It is true that animations and films in
    general are also excellent tools to improve listening and pronunciation skills, I did
    find it difficult at times to follow along and in most cases had hard times capturing
    words and vocabulary. Through comics, however, not only new language
    learners can take their time reading through the dialogue, but they can also re-
    read them as many times as they see fit.

    The following are two good examples of how to incorporate comics in an ESL
    class. In example 1, ESL students can read the dialogue on their own and
    explore the use of new vocabulary in an authentic context. For instance, even
    though the reader might struggle with some words or vocabulary, the facial
    expressions and gestures of the characters can greatly help the learner
    understand them through context.


    Example 1




    Example 2




    In example 2, the teacher can take a different approach. Learners can be asked
    to fill in the blanks and be creative with the dialogue. As an ESL teacher, I think
    this method is very efficient to promote creativity and engagement.

    Popular

    Another important element of comics is that it is popular in this generation as
    well. In fact, Morrison, Bryan, and Chilcoat (2002) suggest that, by incorporating
    popular culture into the curriculum, teachers can bridge the separation many
    students feel between their lives in and out of school. Similarly, the idea of
    integrating iPads into todays classrooms have proven to be a successful
    approach due to the fact that learners nowadays are familiar with that specific
    technology. The idea of integrating whats popular and engaging to students
    outside of schools in the classrooms nowadays constitutes an important element
    of why comics would make an excellent instructional tool.







    References

    Morrison, T., Bryan, G., & Chilcoat, G. (2002). Using student-generated comic
    books in the classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45, 758-767.

    Sones, W. (1944). The comics and instructional method. Journal of Educational
    Sociology, 18, 232-240.

    Yang, G. (2003). Comics in education. Retrieved from :
    http://www.humblecomics.com/comicsedu/index.html

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