{"id":24106,"date":"2022-06-30T11:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=24106"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:04:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T18:04:13","slug":"making-a-case-for-comic-books-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2022\/06\/30\/making-a-case-for-comic-books-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Making A Case for Comic Books in the Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ginny A. Roth ~
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Comic books may look easy to judge by their covers; on the surface they often depict larger-than-life superheroes<\/a> battling in evil, sci-fi scenarios, or melodramatic love stories: \u201cI\u2019m sorry Betsy\u2026 there is no hope!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Soap Opera Romances comic book, 1982, issue #1. The cover story is about “Nurse Betsy Crane,” The last few pages are a separate story about nursing as a career.
National Library of Medicine #9918350480806676<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or is there? These stories may seem frivolous or simplistic to some adults, but to many children they are the stuff of fantasy and adventure; an escape from the real world or the opportunity to imagine themselves as the hero.<\/p>\n

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The Incredible Hulk, 1991, issue #388. The story, “Thicker Than Water” focuses on Jim Wilson, the Hulk’s human partner, who works at an AIDS clinic and whose patients are being threatened by a “supervillain.” Jim calls on the Hulk to fight this villain and reveals that he himself has AIDS.
National Library of Medicine #9918401785306676<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Comics have can have a lot going on under the surface.\u00a0 The National Library of Medicine\u2019s collection of comic books feature a wide range of characters entrenched in health-related escapades, some tell medically-themed adventures and others serve as educational tools. Aquaman, for instance, battles evil in a story about a stolen swine flu vaccine. Whereas a comic book featuring the Justice League, created by DC Comics in collaboration with DuPont Pharmaceuticals and the National Association of Retail Druggists, teaches children how to safely use medicine that is given to them by their doctor, pharmacist, or parent.<\/p>\n

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Aquaman comic book, 1977, vol. 43, issue #449. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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DC Comics Super Heroes Good Health Activity Book, 1989. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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Ben Casey comic book, 1963, issue #4.
National Library of Medicine #9916679583406676<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In contrast to the average school textbook, with cover-to-cover, full-margin paragraphs, few graphics, and topics written in tones that may be unfamiliar, boring, too advanced, or conceptually difficult for students to understand, comic books are appealing because of their exciting narratives, panels that are easy to follow, bright colors, brevity of text, easily understood language, and relatability. They can support student’s connections to difficult or unfamiliar subjects.\u00a0 This Ben Casey comic book series is based on the fictional TV character of the same name. The story in this issue, “Terror at 59 West,” focuses on a young drug addict.<\/p>\n

Teacher Jabari Sellars, in his article, “Comics in the Classroom<\/a>,” cites a study, “Motivating Struggling Readers in Middle School Through an Engagement Model of Classroom Practice<\/a>,” that demonstrates the success of motivating students with texts that resonate with their personal interests, and how such an approach leads students to greater exposure to words, vocabulary acquisition, and more frequent use of reading strategies. Sellars used this approach in his classroom:<\/p>\n

“Consider Lord of the Flies<\/em>, a staple of reading lists in middle and high school. After skimming the back cover, students find the novel dated, boring, and unrelated to who they are or what they like. Students wrestle with a plot that has a group of stranded British school boys turning their prep uniforms into loincloths. Unfamiliar with symbolism-laden allegory, and without knowing how allegories function as social critiques, most students manage only a surface-level comprehension of the text, missing the opportunity to explore the larger ideas of human capability and culpability.<\/p>\n

So to build my students\u2019 comprehension and sharpen their analytical skills, I developed a unit where I introduce them to an allegory derived from popular culture, using story arcs from the\u00a0X-Men<\/em>\u00a0franchise. Working with Chris Claremont\u2019s\u00a0X-Men:<\/em>\u00a0God Loves, Man Kills,\u00a0<\/em>Joss Whedon\u2019s\u00a0Astonishing X-Men<\/em>, or Mark Millar\u2019s\u00a0Ultimate X-Men<\/em>, I begin by asking, What is a mutant?<\/p>\n

Students usually characterize mutants as individuals whose abilities and appearances often lead to their persecution. They\u2019ll note that mutants often realize they are different during puberty or adolescence; some mutants have an appearance that allows them to pass as \u201cnormal\u201d people, while others must go to great lengths to hide their true selves.<\/p>\n

With that definition in hand, it doesn\u2019t take them long to answer my second question: Who in our<\/em>\u00a0society would be considered a mutant?<\/p>\n

After these simple inquiries, students begin to see how\u00a0X-Men<\/em> is an allegory for the experiences of marginalized people \u2014 non-white, non-male, non-Christian, non-heteronormative \u2014 in an oppressive society….<\/p>\n

After an immersion into the allegorical\u00a0X-Men<\/em>\u00a0universe, students read Golding\u2019s\u00a0Lord of the Flies<\/em>\u00a0with far greater confidence and efficiency, able to make light work of complex analysis. The\u00a0X-Men<\/em> unit serves as an elaborate warm-up \u2014 a chance to learn and practice the character and symbol analysis they\u2019ll need for deeper reading. That pre-work could have taken a more traditional form, to be sure, but I\u2019ve found that students are more willing to engage with an activity they find to be familiar, interesting, or integral to their sense of self.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The use of comic books as an education tool is also a great motivator to keep students interested in reading, which supports their ability to understand and retain what they’ve read.\u00a0 Comics are understood by health educators as a useful medium for conveying important health information. In \u201cAn Alternative Teaching Tool in Science Education: Educational Comics<\/a>,\u201d an article by Nur Akcanca, Professor of Science Education, she explains in part why educators use comics in the classroom:<\/p>\n

“Many educators make use of comics to facilitate a better understanding of a certain subject by employing both linguistic and image systems… Comics both improve mental processes, which are the indispensable elements of the cognitive field, and develop aesthetic pleasure in students who are an important element of the emotional field\u2026the inclusion of comics in the education process affects children positively in many related ways. The fact that comics improve the level of children both in terms of skills and cognition is considered to be important for the future lives of children as well as their current experiences.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Akcana\u2019s article includes a chart<\/a> that shows some of the benefits of using comics in education and training including:<\/p>\n