Drawing Graphic Lessons: Comics Teach, Evaluate Difficult Concepts
Though illustrations have been used to convey ideas and information since before language existed, after Benjamin Franklin published the worldās first editorial cartoon in 1754, comics emerged a distinct avenue for visual storytelling.
Now, comic art has come into classrooms at Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę and abroad, as educators are using illustrations in new ways ā to teach complex concepts and assess whether students grasp those lessons.
Inspired to try an educational experiment by the diversity and newness of Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę, then-graduate student Chris Fradkin asked his upper-division abnormal psychology students to draw comic panels as exam answers to questions about schizophrenia, depression and other difficult topics.
āEspecially for students whose first language isnāt English, this was a way for them to show me they understood,ā he said. āOften, the first-generation students are insecure because they donāt have the same vocabulary as other students, but they are very bright, and they found this way of answering questions empowering. Plus, with the visuals, I could tell in five seconds if the student really grasped the concepts.ā
Itās not a matter of convenience, said Fradkin, who now teaches in Brazil as part of his Fulbright Scholarship, though it did cut the time he spent grading tests. Visuals can help students communicate across languages or communicate touchy subjects.
Other teachers, including former Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę political science , found that using comic books and graphic novels to enhance the curriculum helps students gain a far greater understanding of subjects.
āI had my students read the graphic novel series āMarch,ā which is really hundreds of pages about 10 years of the Civil Rights Movement, in two days,ā she said. āThey came back with in-depth understanding of very complex ideas and situations, and they remembered them and were able to talk about them in ways other classes couldnāt for a long time after the assigned reading.ā
Her husband, Darick, an artist, has a passion for , and illustrated one of the comics she used, called āSegregation by Design.ā That comic is one he drew for political science Professor Jessica Trounstineās new book, ā ,ā which will be available in print at the end of October.
āItās surprising how many people art reaches,ā Darick Ritter said. āItās how many people learn. You can get so much information so rapidly from images, and comics can convey a lot of information very quickly.ā
Emily Ritter said itās widely known that people often have an easier time remembering what they see over what they read, and that people remember stories better than they remember long lists of information.
Comics are a way of telling stories that get information through to students.
Fradkin said he didnāt use comics to teach, but to assess, because the concepts he was asking students to learn werenāt the kinds that students could just put on flash cards and memorize.
Trounstine agreed and said that was why she chose to use a comic book to be the first eight pages of her book, which is geared toward academics, not students.
āThe comic is a really distilled interpretation of the book,ā she said. āMy book is for other political scientists, but itās still important that we be able to translate our work to non-scientists, too.ā
The process of coming up with the story for Darick Ritter to illustrate helped her hone how she explained the tricky subject of structural racism.
Emily Ritter said she chose to use the comic in her class because she wouldnāt have been able to assign Trounstineās book to her undergraduate students, but she wanted them to learn about the concept of racism thatās built into the systems we all operate under, such as buying a home.
āPeople of color know this story in a way white people donāt,ā Trounstine said. āWhat happens in the comic is that even though the characters donāt mean to perpetuate segregation, they do.ā
Fradkin, who published several papers on ā including ā said this kind of teaching and assessment is not for every instructor or every class. Designing rubrics for this presents a challenge.
But in the right situations, he, the Ritters and Trounstine all agreed that teachers have to feel free to be creative and use what works best for their students.
āWhen I prepared the students for exams and told them theyād be asked to draw their answers,ā Fradkin said, āall of a sudden their eyes lit up. For the first time, some of these students felt like they were on an even playing field, and I could watch their confidence bloom before my eyes.ā
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