Fun colorful drawings always attract children; they have become a great teaching method for various skills, such as reading, writing, etc. That is until science comics emerged as a distinctive method to introduce science and technology to kids.
What are science comics?
Using comics in explaining science concepts to students is an interesting and engaging method. The illustrations are often fun, illustrative, and simple, which facilitates the grasping of complex concepts. Anything can be explained using comics; from the theory of evolution to the systems of the human body. The role of science comics is not limited to clarifying and explaining scientific concepts; they help students express their understanding of the scientific material and imaginatively apply what they have learned.
How can they develop children's thinking skills?
Science comics offer unconventional strategies for teaching the contents of complex science fields that may require a multidisciplinary approach. They help students in general, and children in particular, to facilitate the understanding of science. This technique contributes to gradually developing the child's way of thinking, especially scientific thinking, through their personal experiences, searching for and verifying scientific assumptions, discussing what they have understood with their peers, and questioning what they did not fully understand with their teacher.
How are they used in classrooms?
The teacher plays an essential role in using science comics to explain scientific topics. Choosing the right comics and preparing discussion questions, among other actions, are important to fully understand and benefit from science and technology. The following are a few techniques to use in a science class:
- Introducing a new scientific concept or topic: teachers can use science comics to introduce a new scientific concept or topic. They can display successive drawings on a whiteboard or a humorous movie, or ask the students to read a science comic book before explaining and discussing the scientific material. After the students grasp the concept, the teacher can ask them to unleash their creativity and create their own drawings that express the same concept. These drawings can be used in explaining to other study groups.
- Summarizing a scientific lesson or concept: science comics can be used to summarize a specific lesson or concept; instead of using several illustrations, explanations, and narration, a few drawings can summarize the same concept.
- Explanation of a practical experiment: several students, especially young ones, find scientific experiments interesting, just by feeling that, through some interactive steps, they can produce something new; yet, perhaps young children will not be as interested in the scientific concept as they are in the results. The teacher can thus prepare a set of science comics to illustrate the experiment steps to get the students prepared for it or to deduce results. Some comics can also be added to define safe practices while conducting scientific experiments.
Conclusion
When children learn science and technology, it is important that they learn how to develop their way of thinking, how to argue, and how to effectively conclude concepts. Based on the children's personal experiences, which have been an essential part of their personality since birth, they learn to develop their knowledge through exploration, verification, and constant search for scientific assumptions and arguments. In that sense, science comics can be very beneficial, in addition to the teacher's effort in explaining and helping students understand the scientific material.
References
sciencefriday.com
researchgate.net
classtechtips.com
janetwhardy.com
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