Changing The World: How Comics and Graphic Novels Can Shift Teaching

Abstract

Comic books and graphic novels offer an excellent way to democratize the classroom and improve student learning by giving them the ability to understand social issues and social institutions in a relatable way. This article is a conversation exploring the validity of comics as tools to teach sociology. Specifically, the article does this through examining the effectiveness of comics as a way to analyze gender, the looking glass self, and the sociological imagination and exploring the use of graphic novels to replace traditional texts in the introductory sociology classroom. If one of our disciplinary goals is to change society for the better by boosting the development of sociological imaginations, looking at comics may give us the best format to do so.

Inclusive Education through Digital Comic Creation in Higher Learning Environments

“…Using comics in education has several benefits, including improving literacy skills, making learning more engaging, providing a visual representation of knowledge, and helping students to think, create, and write more effectively (Akcanca 2020;Pange 2022). The combination of images and words in comics allows for a multifaceted approach to conveying complex ideas, making them particularly effective in different subjects such as history, science, and social studies (Koutníková 2017;Strong et al 2023). Research has shown that comics can improve reading comprehension, stimulate critical thinking, and promote student creativity (Krusemark 2017;Putri and Prodjosantoso 2020).…”

“…Comics have long been recognized as a powerful and engaging medium for education, captivating readers with their visual storytelling and concise narratives (Akcanca 2020;Das and Singh 2022). The use of comic strips in education spans various disciplines, from history and science to literature and mathematics (Koutníková 2017;Strong et al 2023). In language learning, comics offer a unique blend of text and imagery, providing learners with contextualized language use and cultural references.…”

Using photovoice to engage students in a non-major microbiology course

“…[ 4 ] examined the issues surrounding the teaching of statistics, and reviewed current ideas to address this such as using interactive learning resources, computational tools and digital resources. To address similar concerns in other disciplines, comics were used in a number of ways to make non-major subjects more interactive and interesting, for example in biology [ 5 , 6 ]. Comics have also been used in teaching science to students in Turkey [ 7 ] and to communicate microbiological topics to the general public [ 8 ].…”