Using Comics in the Science ClassroomA Pedagogical Tool

you've

Ad YOU

E-mail :BobTha ves® aol.com®2000Thav9s/Dist, byNEA. loc

Comic strips found in newspapers and magazines can he used to assess bothstudent and teacher understanding of science concepts. They can also be usedto get students'attention, introduce a new topic, and stimulate critical thinkingand ethical discussions in the classroom.

I watch with amazement as my twocollege-age sons read the dailynewspaper. Invariably they startby reading the comic page, then

backtrack to the world and local news.One of them explained that it is easierto digest the news if one's spirits arelifted first. In a similar way, I like tostart my classes by sharing a comicbecause it tends to put my students ina more receptive mood for the lessonthat follows. There are many waysto use comics in the classroom, butmost fall into one of two broad cat-egories—attention getters and criticalthinking stimulants.

Using comics as attention gettersDisplaying a comic at the start of theclass helps focus students' attentionand sets the tone for the lesson thatfollows. You can even display thecomic just prior to the start of classand remove it when class officiallybegins to encourage students to ar-rive on time. Having the comic ondisplay when students enter the room

Kerry C/iccsman {kcheesma@capital.edu)/sa professor in the Biological Sciences Depart-ment at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

quiets and focuses the class so thelesson can begin.

The crazier the comic usedas an attention getter, the better itworks. Often there is silence for afew seconds as students focus on thedisplay and try to figure it out; thenlaughter (or groans) slowly beginsto roll through the group. Studentswho like the comics appreciate thatyou are doing something for them,and those who think your sense ofhumor is warped are still establishinga more personal relationship that canonly help foster a climate of learningwithin the classroom.

Whenever possible, the openingcomic should be related to the lessonof the hour. This allows direct entry/focusing of the mind to the subject be-ing studied. In courses such as generalbiology or genetics, I have no dif-ficulty finding relevant material. Butin immunology, biochemistry, andother upper division biology courses 1have struggled to find enough relevantcomics, even after collecting them formore than 15 years. In these cases Ioften use comics about education ingeneral (there are lots of these) orabout college life.

By Kerry Cheestnan

A second place to use atten-tion-getting comics is as a topictransition (An example of a topictransition comic is The Far Sidepanel (Gary Larson) titled "Em-barassing moments at gene parties".Here, one gene at the party points toanother that is becoming grossly de-formed and says "Oh my goodness...Vinnie's mutating!" This leads to adiscussion of what a mutation is,what can cause a mutation, and ifit is possible to see a mutation tak-ing place.). Often we find ourselvesfinishing one topic/chapter in themiddle of the hour and then startingthe next one immediately. A comicnot only introduces the new topicwith a smile, but allows students aquick breather to refocus their at-tention and their energies.

Most of us have experienced thepain of returning an exam to a classthat has performed poorly. Comicsare a great way to ease the pain. Forinstance, when students do well onquestions from classroom material,but poorly on the questions fromtextbook material not specificallytalked about in class, I use a FunkyWinkerbean comic strip where the

Above: Example of context in a generalchemistry or biology class comic. Dothe students "get" the joke? ("Frankand Ernest" ©Thaves. Reprinted withpermission of Bob Thaves.)

4 8 JOURNAL"/COLLEGESCIENCETEACHING

student says to the teacher, "Youmean we had to answer the ques-tions and read the chapter?" This notonly eases tensions, but also sets thestage for a healthy discussion of thevalue of reading the assigned mate-rial, I don't need to say as much tostudents because many of them seethemselves in the comic strip and sortout the issues on their own (activelearning).

Finally, comics can be used tosee if students are paying attentionin class. A simple cartoon that, onquick glance, appears to be a normaldiagram, but contains silly or contra-dictory pieces, helps to do this nicely.One example is a comic by SidneyHarris showing the cell and its parts.The twist is that it includes a celldoor, cell windows, and cell floor.Another is a panel by Long showingthe geologic layers of a hillside, butadding labels such as "special sauce"and "'all-beef patty" in addition toUpper Permian, Mississippian, andDevonian. By displaying the comicas if it were a normal diagram andbeginning to talk about cell parts(for instance), one can quickly gaugewhich portion of the class is payingattention and which is not. Hearingthe laughter (or moans) from part ofthe class often wakes up those whowere daydreaming and gets themback on track.

Starters for critical thinkingA second use of comics in the class-room is as a starting point for discus-sion. These discussions may takeany form (large class or small group,in-class or homework, etc.) but aretied to the scenario and conceptspresented in the comic shown.

One use of this technique isin probing a class to determineunderstanding of a concept. Forinstance, following discussion ofthe scientific method in a freshmanbiology course, I use a comic thatgives me feedback on what studentshave learned. That comic is a Pea-nuts strip by the late Charles Schulzshowing Snoopy s brother Spike inthe desert (Figure I). He holds up a

boat oar and says, "This proves mytheory that this whole desert usedto be under water." Then he says,"Or my other theory that someonesomewhere is missing an oar." Thefirst question 1 pose is, are thesereally theories? Most students haveno difficulty responding in thenegative, and recognizing that atbest they are hypotheses (separat-ing the scientific use of the word"theory" from the vernacular use).My second question is, can we havecompeting theories in science? Or,more specifically, can competingtheories be espoused for the samedata and observations? This is amore complex question, and afterstudents share their opinions, I havethem break up into small groups todiscuss what they heard. By the timewe are finished, students achieve amuch higher level of understandingof theories and hypotheses than theywere able to before 1 started usingcomics to teach this concept. As anextension, I often follow up with aclass discussion of the use of theword prove in the comic strip.

An example of an appropriatephysics comic is a GarfieUi strip byJim Davis in which Garfield rideson Odie's back holding his ears likereins. After building speed throughthree panels, Garfield yells "Stop!"and is flung through the air. Whichof Newton's laws is demonstratedhere? Where some students havedifficulty relating real-life ex-amples to what is taught in class,they may find it easier to relate to acomic strip scenario that they enjoyreading on a regular basis. Figure 2

FIGURE 1Peanuts comic strip used to help students understand the concept of a theory in sci-ence (Peanuts: © United Features Syndicate, Inc.).

provides another example of a criti-cal thinking stimulant and discus-sion starter for a physics class.

An example for chemistry isa Far Side comic by Gary Larsonshowing cavemen drawing a mo-lecular formula on the cave wall. Thecaption is "Early chemists describethe first dirt molecule." In spite ofLarson's background in the sciences,the molecule contains bond pairingsthat cannot actually exist. Simplequestions—What's wrong here?Can this molecule actually exist?Where would you place De (thesymbol given for dirt) on the peri-odic table?—can lead to small groupdiscussions that help students seewhether or not they grasp the prin-ciples of chemical bonding and theinterrelationship of the elements.

A different form of critical think-ing can lead to ethical discussions inscience. Here a scenario is presentedvia a comic that serves as the basis forrelating science to the world aroundus. This is very easy to do in genet-ics, for instance, with contemporaryissues such as cloning, embryoscreening, implications of the humangenome project, genetically modifiedfoods, and so on. Other areas of biol-ogy, chemistry, and physics can alsogenerate ethical debates and helpstudents see why understanding theunderlying science is so important tothese discussions.

Questions that might be askedfrom such comics are: Is this ac-curate? What does this mean forour society? Could this happen tous? It is important to remember thatthe purpose of infusing ethics into

LOOK UJWATI FOUND

OAR:

TH15 PR0VE5 MY THEORYTHAT THI5 WHOLE PEfERTUSED TO 3e UNDER LOATER..

OR Ml" OTHERTHEORY THAT

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 49

FIGURE 2Another example of a critical thinking stimulant and discussion starter comic from phys-ics {"Frank and Ernest" © Thaves. Reprinted with permission of Bob Thaves.)

I'M ve/?y

lYOU, Of Al-L

VIOLATING A

"is

FIGURE 3A biology comic that may elicit as many groans as laughs ("Frank and Ernest" ©Thaves.Reprinted with permission of Bob Thaves.)

undergraduate science classroomsis not to teach students a particularvalue system or to get everyone onthe same page about a given ethi-eal problem. Rather, it is to helpstudents examine their own valuesin light of the scientific evidenceand see where there may be bothagreement and conflict. It is also tohelp them see that, in many cases,the science itself may yield am-biguous results (thus helping themto learn more about the process ofscience). Finally, such discussionshelp students to sort out what isscience and what is technology(the applications of that science),and grapple with age-old issues,such as where responsibility lieswhen science is used for less thanadmirable goals.

Comments from studentsOver the past decade I have periodi-cally solicited comments about theuse of comics from students duringend-of-semester evaluations. Morethan 200 comments have been re-

5 0 JOURNAL "/ COLLEGE SCIENCE TEACHING

ceived, in both lower-division andupper-division science courses. Ofthese more than 80% have beenpositive, with 64% being extremelypositive. Less than 5% of commentshave indicated a negative opinionabout the use of eomics in the elass-room; the rest ofthe comments weregenerally neutral or ambiguous (astudent that liked their use in someareas but not in others).

Student comments heard fre-quently include the foUowing:

"The comics helped me to focus onthe lesson for the day.""Using comics really set the mood forthe class—always a positive one.""Many ofthe comics helped me tolearn to think in a critical way. Thequestions that accompanied the com-ics were superb.""It's good to see scientists who canuse good humor The comics reallyhelped to make this a fun class.""I really looked foi-ward to comingto class on time (something I rarelydid before)."

"The comics that were chosen reallyhelped us to approach ethical dilem-mas without the tension so often seenin our humanities classes."

Where to find relevant comicsComics can be found in a variety ofplaces. Most obviously, local news-papers publish several each day.Magazines—both news magazinesand general purpose ones, as well asseientifie journals—regularly publishcomics. Read comics critically; veryfew are explicitly scientific. What youare looking for are ones that contain aconcept that can stimulate discussionin a science class.

Comic series that have donewell over time (such as Peanuts,Garfield, and The Far Side) arerepublished as books of cartoons,available at local bookstores. Ifthere is a series that is a favoriteof your students, a few dollarsinvested in these resources willprovide you with a wealth of ideasfor years to come. Sidney Harrishas also published several books ofscientific comics (found in Ameri-can Scientist) and these are avail-able from Sigma Xi (www.sigmaxi.org). Another source, especially forstrips with smaller distribution orones in specifie areas of interest(science!), is the internet. Search-ing topics such as cartoons or com-ics yields a large number of sitesthat can often be sorted by termssuch as science, medicine, nature,and so on. Some of these comicsare available for no cost; othersare available only for a fee. Checkcarefully the restrictions for thosepublished on the internet.

Your students can also be a sourceof eomics. Several times in the past Ihave had students draw comics thatwe have used in the classroom. If theypossess such talent, encourage themto use it. Drawing is much like teach-ing—it is a great way for students todemonstrate to themselves that theyindeed understand the material. What-ever your source for comics may be,please be careful to observe the fair- -use guidelines, outlined below.

\

Fair-use guidelinesSeveral authors have done a good jobof boiling down the legal statutes forteachers in the classroom. Amongthese are Simon and Saunders (2000),Simpson (2001), and Walker (1995).Several websites also contain goodinformation for educators. Theseinclude www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intel-lectualproperty/clasguid. htm., www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/faimse/dalziel.html, www.cetus.org/fairindex/html,and www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/copyright/lLTcopyO.html.

When using a comic in the class-room, there are surprisingly fewrestrictions. Comics may be usedin any media (transparency, 35-mmslide, computer presentation, and soon) in front of the class. They maybe stored by the instructor and usedrepeatedly, even over the course ofmany years, (This is helpful since ittakes several years to build a usefullibrary of relevant comics.) Comicsmay even be copied onto exams orquizzes, either as an icebreaker or inconjunction with a question. Regard-less of the means you use to showstudents the comic, it is imperativethat the appropriate copyright infor-mation be clearly attached and visibleto the audience. This means copyingcarefully so as not to accidentallydelete this information from the panel.Copyright may belong to the author orto a syndicate or corporation.

What may not be done in theclassroom is to duplicate comics togive to students or other teachers.This implies that quizzes or examsthat will be returned to and remainthe property of the students may notcontain a comic. Only those that areretained by and destroyed by the in-structor can use comics in this way.It should logically follow, then, thatcopies may also not be given to otherteachers for their use (although youcan tell them where to get their owncopy). If you have purchased a bookor magazine and copied the comicfor your own classroom use, you alsomay not lend that book or magazineto another teacher so that they maycopy the con:iic.

Finally, comics that are copy-righted by others may not be placedon course websites or published injournal articles such as this one, with-out written permission from the copy-right owner. In some cases obtainingsuch permission (especially for edu-cational purposes) is quick and easy.In other cases it can be difficult andeven costly. The bottom line—don'tuse other people's creative worksfor your own purposes without theirknowledge and consent.

Suggestions for best useThere are several things to considerthat will help to ensure that your ex-perience with comics in the classroomis a positive and productive one.

First, use single-frame comicswhenever possible. These are theeasiest for students to see, read,and comprehend. They are also theeasiest to enlarge for projection in alarge classroom. Multi-panel comicscan take time to read and be harderto follow. Consider your intent andyour audience before choosing.

• Use as large an image as possible.The intent and usefulness of thecomic will be lost if the image orwords cannot be easily seen bythe student in the last seat. Usea copy machine to enlarge theimage to a size that best fits yourclassroom needs. If enlarging animage on the computer, be awareof its format, as some imagesthat look good on a website willbecome grainy and hard to read ifenlarged to a room-size format.Clean up newspaper images be-

fore tising. Many comics obtained

from the newspaper will havestray marks or bleed-throughfrom the other side. A simpletechnique to eliminate mostbleed-through is to copy the im-age on top of a piece of dark-col-or paper. This fools the imagingsystem into changing its contrastpattern and produces a clearerimage for classroom projection.

• Remember, comics are only one ofmany tools. Do not allow them to

dominate or take time away from thelesson. It is easy to get sidetrackedwith a desire to show lots of comics,but realize that if there is not a clearpedagogical reason to use a comie,it is probably not wise to do so.

• Be sure that the comic used isappropriate for your audience.Consider the age and backgroundof students. Are there politicalinferences in the comic that maynot be understood or may offendthe audience? Are there sexualreferences or innuendoes? Is therea historical context that you un-derstand but that your studentsmay not? Any of these issues maycause your students to lose interestand fai! to grasp the lesson that youhave so carefully planned. Contextis vitally important to any comic'sbeing a useful teaching tool.

Final panelAs with any other pedagogicaltechnique, not all students respondpositively to the use of comics in theclassroom. However, the majority ofstudents do enjoy comics when usedas a tool in the ways described above.Students eventually come to expectcomics in certain courses, sometimesdisplaying disappointment when 1forget to bring one to start the class.Likewise, many students enteringupper-division courses also expectme to continue the tradition that theyrelated to so well during their fresh-man year. Comics are not the way toteach science, but as a selected toolto teach key concepts and to helpstudents participate in the classroom,they are a wonderful and powerfuladdition to the classroom. •

ReferencesSimon, E., and K. Saunders. 2000.

Copyrights and the educator. Jour-nal of College Science Teaching 30(2): 100-105.

Simpson, C. 2001. Copyright 101.Educational Leadership (Dec/Jan): 36-38.

Walker, N. 1995. Copy rights andwrongs. Journal of College ScienceTeaching 24 (5): 321-332.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 51