Comic Strips as a medium for Instruction 1
COMIC STRIPS AS A MEDIUM FOR INSTRUCTION
Comic Strips as a medium for Instruction: Does a science based curriculum capitalizing on theinherent multi-modal design of the comic strip,make the learningof new concepts
more equitable for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners?
John C. Olson
CaliforniaStateUniversity Northridge
Abstract
This paper is a proposal for an action research project on the use of comic strips in the classroom as a medium to allow equitable access for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. The numbers, time frames, etc. are estimates based on this current year’s schedule and classes. The paper introduces the purpose and direction of the research proposal, briefly investigates the literature review for the study, and begins to layout the basic methodology of the research. References for the literature review are included in this proposal.
CHAPTER I
MAKING NEW CONCEPTS MORE EQUITABLE FOR DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES THROUGH COMIC STRIP BASED INSTRUCTION.
Differentiated instruction is an approach to instruction which allows whole class instruction while accommodating the needs of individual learners. Within any learning community there are subgroups of students who can possess slight to profound visual, auditory or kinetic learning preferences. In my classroom, warm ups have traditionally involved the silent reading of text, taking notes from context, and the reproduction of drawings of and concepts from the textbook. This warm up style does not fairly address the reality that within the classroom community there are auditory learners who prefer to hear concepts aloud in order to process them. There are also kinesthetic learners who learn best by acting out, drawing, and manipulating their world, and who prone to resisting reading. This study comes out of a concern to address these discrepancies.
I have a strong interest for the genre of the comic strip and how it opens a window to our society through the stories it presents. I believe it can be a motivating medium for all students. This study is designed to evaluate comic strips as a medium to more readily engage all students.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this study is to examine the use of a comic strip based curriculum, A Newton and Copernicus Companion,and to evaluate the effectiveness this curriculum in addressing the various learning styles preferences of my students. For this study, lessons from the curriculum will primarily be used as warm-up activities in my science classrooms. More in depth, whole period activities will also be piloted.
The focus of the study is to see if the use of comic stripsmore equitablyengagesall students regardless of their preferred learning styles. Upon entering the classroom,students are expected to begin working on a warm-up posted on the front board. My warm-ups usually involve students working individually at their seats on a written prompt while I take attendance, answer individual questions and address daily opening business.
Depending on the skills involved; reading, writing, note taking, drawing diagrams, different subgroups of students have trouble getting on task, and they resistthose activities whichare challenging or difficult for them. The comic strip curriculum will be designed to have students reading, (silently and aloud,) listening, discussing, dramatizing, writing and drawing, as it mixes several of these modalities into one activity. The objective is to allow students to become actively engaged with the concepts, issues and terminology presented in the curriculum and to make the content more equitably accessible to students with different learning styles. A second objective is to stimulate students to talk about science and science issues. This format requires a change in my daily warm-ups from a quiet, seated, individual activity, to a more engaging, interactive experience, a process which will require an adjustment to my expectations of noise level and movement within the classroom.
Through the implementation of this curriculum as a pilot in the classroom, the following research questions will be addressed.
- Does the use of a comic based curriculumprovide evidence that it isequitablyaddressing students with different learning styles?
- What appear to be the mostsuccessful attributes of the curriculum?
- Is there evidence that the inherent multimodal design of a comic strip makes science concepts and terminology more accessible for all students?
Importance of the Study
The results of this study will provide some indication as to whether the use of a science themed cartoon strip used as a warm up will make the learning of scientific concepts and issues in science more balanced and accessible to students with moderate to strong preferences for different learning styles. It willalso provide data as to the quality of the Newton and Copernicus Companion curriculum, and whether further editing and development is indicated. The study will also provide qualitative assessments which indicate the level of interest students have in the comic strip format.
Definition of Terms
Comic Strip:A comic strip is a drawing or sequence of drawings that tells a story
Cartoon: Used here interchangeably with comic strip. In modern print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humorous in intent
Learning Style: A learning style is a preferred mode of learning that is “related to physiological factors: visual (seeing/picture), Auditory (hearing), and Kinesthetic (touching/physical)” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.9).
Learning Style Assessment: A self or teacher administered test that helps to determine preferred learning styles, usually with a numerical value assigned to each preference.
Visual Learner: “Visual learners have vivid imaginations, learn by seeing images … and find verbal instructions difficult” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.10).
Auditory Learner: Auditory learners are students who “have difficulty with written instructions … and must hear to understand” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.10).
Kinesthetic Learners: The traits of a kinesthetic learner describe students that do not listen or focus on directions, learn by doing, express their emotions physically, and usually have outgoing personalities (Vincent & Ross, 2001).
Differentiated Instruction: Differentiated Instruction is an instructional concept that maximizes learning for ALL students—regardless of skill level or background.
A Newton and Copernicus Companion: A collection of activities using comic strips from or based on the online comic strip, Newton and Copernicus, a science themed comic strip with an ongoing story line about the adventures and misadventures of two lab rats involved in a neural stimulation experiment.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
How Students Learn
At the end of the first reporting period during the previous school year, 2006-2007, Nicky, a highly motivated student who contributed to the classroom and learning environment, came to me with a concern. Nicky was concerned that she did not really understand all the “stuff” about motion and forces she had read and studied in the text. I asked her if she felt that she was more of an auditory learner than a visual learner. Her response was that the homework reading didn’t really make sense to her, but she seemed unsure about just what her learning strengths were.
Nicky actively participated and listened in class and communicated her ideas well. She maintained high grades in science and in all of her other classes, so I found this discrepancy curious. That conversation lead me to further research which generated an interest in better addressing the different learning styles of my students.
Learning Styles
There are several learning style models that researchers have developed for use in identifying a student’s preferred learning style. In the most familiar model, learners are categorized as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination of these three. “Learning styles are… related to physiological factors: visual (seeing/picture), Auditory (hearing), and Kinesthetic (touching/physical)” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.9).
Visual learners have vivid imaginations, learn by seeing images … and find verbal instructions difficult” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.10). Some suggested strategies for teaching the visual student include, “using video equipment, providing assignments in writing; and using charts and pictures” (p.10).
The auditory learner has different needs. “Auditory students prefer the auditory sense. They enjoy talking, have difficulty with written instructions … and must hear to understand” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.10). When teaching the auditory learner, teachers “need to provide as much auditory stimuli as possible,” (p.10). Verbal reinforcement, group activities, class discussions and reading aloud are beneficial strategies for auditory learners (p.10).
“Kinesthetic or Tactile students prefer the tactile sense,” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.11). Vincent and Ross point out that these students are poor listeners, they learn by doing, express their emotions physically, and usually have outgoing personalities (p.11).
“Teachers of Kinesthetic/Tactile students need to provide many activities to allow students to participate in learning,”and that“they need to provide hands-on activities, provide for physical movement within the classroom, and encourage note taking” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p.11). With this wide range of preferences, it is desirable to find a way to deliver content to a wide variety of student needs. The use of comic stripsin a properly designed lesson, should have many attributes that makes it conducive to addressing these multiple learning styles.
Multiple Intelligences
Another model viewed learning styles in terms of multiple intelligences. The theory behind multiple intelligences “defines intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings” (Vincent & Ross, 2001, p. 4). First introduced in 1983, “Gardner’s multiple intelligencestheory provided a new way of looking at intelligence” (p. 4). The seven original categories are listed below.
Linguistic: the capacity to communicate effectively in writing or orally.
Logical-Mathematical: the capacity to work with numbers and high order thinking.
Visual-Spatial: the capacity to learn through graphic images.
Musical: the capacity to think/express in musical forms.
Body-Kinesthetic: the capacity to use body movement in learning and expression.
Interpersonal: the ability to understand and interact with other people.
Intrapersonal: the ability to understand themselves and pursue their own interests.
(Vincent & Ross, 2001, pp. 4-5)
Although my action research study will not catagorizethe learning styles of the subgroups into Gardner’s multiple intelligences, the comic strip format and curriculum design should accommodate many of these intelligences.
Global/Analytical
Another learning styles model was one that identifiedstudents as “global or analytical learners” (Whitefield, 2005). Whitefield cited from a study by Dunn and Dunn, and elaborated how “The Dunn and Dunn model … identifies five major stimuli to which students respond in learning situations.”Some of the traits of an analytical learner include a need to complete work, preference for step by step tasks, and a need for sequence in building towards a concept and in getting feedback. Some of the traits of a global learner include a need for concepts before details, an ability to multi-task, a preference for group learning and a desire to be presented with lessons of interest to them (Whitefield, 2005). The comic strip format and the interaction of students with the curriculum either individually or in groups, will accommodate students with analytical or global preferences, allowing them to participate in the learning process.
The identification and support of learning styles
In his article on identifying and supporting learning styles, Pitts (2002) argued that “anybody that works in or with today’s classrooms knows that teachers are under heavy pressure to cover a lot of material” (p.3). Pitts underscores the idea that test scores are expected to rise. Pitts further comments that “teaching to the student’s learning style will improve test scores” (p. 3).
There are many instruments available for teachers to use to evaluate learning styles. However, Pitts countered that “these inventories, as good as they may be, take up too much of the teachers’ time to be used effectively” (2002, p. 5). This creates a dilemma for teachers. Knowledge of learning styles is beneficial to teacher and student, but identifying learning styles can be a daunting task. His suggested that a simple, easy to administer and evaluate instrument would prove to be beneficial (Pitts, 2002). An integral part of the design of my study is to incorporate an easy to administer learning styles assessment to help identify the subgroups within my action research project.
Comic Strips in the classroom
Research has indicated that comic strips in the classroom can be a great teaching aid. The benefits of their use in specific learning contexts can carry over into the general classroom population. In an article considering comic strips as a serious intervention for ESL students, the author noted that “carefully selected comic strips can become great teaching aids for ESL instructors” (Serious ESL Lessons, 2005, p.1). The articlealso stressed that comic strips were beneficial “because they provide brief conversations in English with pictures that help convey the meaning of the words” (p.1). For a visual learner, especially one who may be below grade level in reading, or a kinesthetic learner who resists reading, the pictures in a comic strip reinforcing the concepts could potentially make the content more accessible. The article argued that cartoon (comic) strips are effective: “it’s not just aural or visual, it’s both” (p.1). One could fairly extrapolate that comic strips can benefit not only ESL students, but also auditory and visual learners.
One of the objectives of my study, beyond equitably addressing the learning styles of my students, is to stimulate discussion about science concepts and science issues. Dahbany-Miraglia, quoted during an interview shared the following: “I use cartoons to elicit rather than to lecture” (Serious ESL Lessons, 2005, p.1). She added that giving cartoons (comic strips) to the students “lets them talk about how they feel, what they think.”
The use of comic strip conversations has been studied in special education, addressing the limited verbal abilities of certain autistic children. This study noted that “children with limited verbal skills benefit from comic strip conversations because they rely on extensive use of visual materials” (Glaeser, Pierson, & Fritschmann, 2003, p.15). The researchers further noted that “although originally developed to help students with autistic spectrum disorders, these techniques can be applied to any student with below-average verbal language ability” (p.15). Students in the study were able to express their feelings about playground issues they were having by drawing and creating conversations in comic strip format. Using comic strips as a medium to convey understanding and information for a general education population might possibly have equal benefits for students who struggle expressing themselves verbally, and will be a component in the curriculum being designed for this action research project.
The value of using concept cartoons was discussed by Kabapınar (2005) in a study which evaluated the use of cartoons in a constructivist approach to teaching science concepts. He cited the findings of a previous study by Keogh and Naylor which stated that…
(the) concept cartoon approach in teaching science enhances motivation, provides a purpose for practical work, minimizes classroom management problems by the focused discussion that keeps the pupils on task, enables finding out students’ ideas prior to teaching, and provides a manageable way to plan and carry out the teaching according to students’ ideas(Kabapınar, 2005, P.137).
Since a classroom warm-up activity is most effective when students are on task and engaged, these findings validate the intrinsic value of investigating the comic strip as an instructional tool.
The logic behind incorporating the comic strip into the curriculum was further supported in an article addressing Literacy Instruction with communicative and visual arts. The article quoted a study by Wright and Sherman (1999) which listed three arguments for the inclusion of comic strips in a language arts classroom.
First, their study revealed a high level of interest in the genre. Second, the wide circulation of comic strips makes them an economically viable source of material. Third, most comic strips have low readability levels, with words and sentences which are linguistically suitable for elementary and middle school readers (Lin, C., 2003, p.4).
The readability of a comic strip, because of the visual clues, the text presented as conversational dialog, and the students natural affinity for the genre, would provide added motivation for students to become engaged in the exercises from the curriculum.
The literature supports the basics tenets of this paper, demonstrating that comic strips have value in teaching to multiple learning styles, and that the format of a comic strip, with its dialog and visual clues from the pictures, makes reading and understanding the content more accessible and will allow all students to successfully engage in the activities of the curriculum.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY