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.

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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