Comic books in classroom

Many teachers in US, and all over the world, more and more like the idea of introducing comic books in their teaching. Here are several reasons for that.
Comics as literature
Comic books are visually attractive. The trick why the comics are so effective is that you cannot skim them.

You have to read them because the words and illustrations are meant to be read together. And children like the combination of visual and text.

Comics as stimulation
Comics motivate children because it is a fun activity. Usually, children read for school.

This is one of the ways to get introduced to some other topics that they can relate to. They are also a supplement for what is being studied in class.
“…those who read more comic books did more pleasure reading, liked to read more, and tended to read more books. These
results show that comic book reading certainly does not inhibit other kinds of reading, and is consistent with the hypothesis that
comic book reading facilitates heavier reading.”

Comics’ efficiency and effectiveness
The comic book format includes large amounts of information, text and illustrations.

Neurological experiments show that the text and images are processed in different areas of the brain.

The experiments indicated that text and image when coupled, lead to better recall and transfer of learning.
“Across the eleven studies, people who learned from words and graphics produced between 55 percent to 121 percent more correct solutions to transfer problems than people who learned from words alone.

Across all studies, a median percentage gain of 89 percent was achieved with a median effect size of 1.50.”

Comics as idea to make your own comic

Writing a comic book is a complex process. First you write a story that hopefully makes sense and inspires others.

Then you use your editing skills. You edit words and make a visually appealing composition.

Visual and textual part that are in harmony bring a comprehensive, meaningful and insightful world view that might interest someone else.
Eventually, teachers can encourage students to make their own comic book.

According to some studies, students prefer to self-reflect and create characters that are more related to them than a super hero stories.

Surprisingly, students who have difficulties in reading and writing, become more engaged during comic book readings.
“The point is not to drop a comic book on a child’s desk and say: “read this.” Rather, the workshops give groups of students the opportunity to collaborate on often complex stories and characters that they then revise, publish and share with others in their communities.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/opinion/03thu4.html