pedagogical value of cartoons in the history classroom

The Pedagogical Value of Comics in the History

Classroom: An Exploratory Case-Study

Presenters:

Mr Lloyd Yeo, SGSS

Mr Joseph Tham, CGS

Mr Ezal, FMSS

NLC Symposium 2015

1230pm to 115pm

Uploaded on:

http://www.slideshare.net/Lloyd

Yeo/pedagogical-value-of-

cartoons-in-the-history-

classroom

Introduction: The Problem with Comics

in Literature

“They are thrice damned: damned as a culture, as a medium and

as a genre”.

Purpose: “Damned as culture, being popular not ‘high”

People: At best suitable only for children (and retarded adults)

Process/ Approach: Outlandish fantasy involving absurd

characters acting in the most bizarre fashion – the very

antithesis, one might think, of plausibility.”

Impact: positively harmful at worst….a perverse hybrid

Locke, (2005)

Introduction: The Problem with Comics

in Literature

They are thrice damned

“Damned as culture, being popular not ‘high’

“Damned as a medium, being neither art nor literature but some perverse

hybrid, at best suitable only for children (and retarded adults), at worst

positively harmful

“Damned as a genre, being the most outlandish fantasy involving absurd

characters acting in the most bizarre fashion – the very antithesis, one might

think, of plausibility.”

Our Failed Classroom Experiments

How to Use Comics in Class

Student-generated SBQs

General literacy, specific

medium literacy, metacognition,

reading and writing vs. specific

history use

Comic List

Methods & Theory Expressive Constructivism (Millwood & Riley, 1988)

a. Knowledge is a mental

representation.

b. It is not passively received but is

actively built up.

c. The function of cognition is

adaptive. Does it fit? Is it viable?

Is it right? This is frequently

experienced. Its expression is not

necessarily linguistically…

d. Cognition organizes the person’s

experiential world and vice versa.

It is not about the discovery of an

objective ontological reality.

This is what we did in our classroom

Area of Focus School By

Using cartoons to enhance Historical empathy

Fairfield Methodist

Ezal

Using cartoons to enhance Historical creativity

St Gabriel’s Lloyd Yeo

Using cartoons to understand Historical reliability

Crescent Girls

Joseph Tham

FAIRFIELD METHODIST SCHOOL (SECONDARY)

1. Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy

Research Question : How does the use of cartoons increase Historical Empathy among students?

Methodology: Using 2 graphic novels (excerpts) as triggers and source-based activities in the teaching of the Outbreak of WWII in Asia Pacific / Reasons for Defeat of Japan. Also to watch the Anime to reinforce what they have read.

Sample size/description: Sec 3 Express (34 students)

Students took survey (Created by Middle Tennessee State University – Psychology Department)

Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy

‘Historical Empathy’ involves understanding how people from the past thought, felt, made decisions, acted and faced consequences within a specific historical and social context (Endacott and Brooks, 2013)


Gen! Are you running away?

You Rat!

Stop Crying! Go with your mother!

• Use of Macro History as

Backdrop

• Comparison and

Contrast to hook them

in

(Relationships/feelings/

plots/ character

development)

Students have grown with TV, Games, Computers and they need graphics to help them understand messages (McTarggart, 2008)

Inference on reasons as to why Japan went to war


They had their feet together and jumped

into the ocean!

I saw a suicide!

Some kids don’t even have money

for lunch!


What do you like about studying history through Anime / Comics?

it helps me to understand how the people in the past felt during that period of time as well as to understand their current plight. it makes it easier to understand concepts in history textbooks.

I get to see different people's perspective and views on certain history happenings. It shows a diff perspective of matters

it is more interesting to read comics than a whole chunk of words in the textbook it is easier to visualise what happens to them and understand how they felt.

ST GABRIEL’S SECONDARY SCHOOL (SECONDARY)

2. Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity

Research Question : How do students design their own historical cartoons? What is its pedagogical value? How do students experience it?

Methodology: (Next slide)

Sample size/description: 6 Sec 1 classes (240 students)

Semi-structured interviews & student group and individual work

Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity

Adapted from interpretations of Argyris's writings:

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm and http://bsix12.com/double-loop-

learning/

Pre-Intro/ Cartoon Schema Elements of

cartoons Local history

examples Punchlines Prior knowledge

Group Work Inquiry question Scaffolds Avatar Creation Sources Problem/ Resolution Freedom (Drawn vs

electronic

Templated cartoons and scripts

Tr feedback and comments

Individual Work

Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity/ Methodology

Importance of prior knowledge & avatar creation

In P5 and P6 social studies. They talk a lot

about coolies.

Internet: I was on the internet and some people

claim to see weird things like UFOs. It could be

fake but I thought I would include that just for fun.

History Book: For the background I was like

looking at the sources in the history book.

I noticed certain styles that I could take note of

like the building having like curves.

Literature: We got some inspiration from the

Street of the Night Market because it was our

Literature text and set around this …People

struggling to get jobs and money to pay rent

Group Work: I also remembered the previous

group work.


Background

Materials Experience

I made up the GDM club. I remember Europeans and Eurasians tend to have their own club and Chinese were not allowed in. So I added another club.

I always remember seeing this kind of thing around Singapore and in most Chinatown in the world. So this is the entrance to China Town.

I got this idea from Street of the Small Night Market. The family was struggling to pay rent for a house which had pretty bad living conditions. That explains why I drew like cracks all over the building to make it pretty old and not well-maintained.

Role of inspiration from the moment, loose-

ness/ creativity & punchlines


This is another comical thing that will not happen in real life. A random piece of paper advertisement flies into his

hand. It is not logical.

I didn’t know what to draw at first. Then when I was crossing the street to get to the MRT, I saw this taxi about jobsstreet.com. Then I realized that it

was about an application to get jobs. So, I thought maybe it’d be comical to get a Chinese national to randomly find a piece of paper talking about jobs

1. Historical visualization through stories

Sometimes teacher will say, “Can you try and visualize what their life is like?”. And

then you realize that that’s all you can think of. But when we did this, this opened our

mind . So this really help (us) visualize a lot.

2. Historical agency/ ownership through creativity

“Historical agency brings out the relationship between structural forces and the

historical actors to the forefront of the historical event. … That is, human beings as

autonomous agents with abilities to affect change, yet there are social structures

that constrain and limit what individuals can do” (Damico, Baildon & Greenstone, 2010)

3. Affective/ Motivation value"

“It was vey fun. After doing it, I was very proud of what I had done. I kept looking

through it. It makes me real proud that I had created and something and it is something

I have never done before.”

4. Means to An End

Micro-History:

Technology

Context

Jigsaw


3. Using Cartoons to Understand Historical Reliability

Crescent Girl’s Secondary School

Research Question : How can you use graphic novels to teach historical reliability? (part of a larger project)

Methodology: Using graphic novels (excerpts) and ICT platforms to elicit student understanding of historical reliability.

Sample size/description: Sec 3 Express (20 students)

Student online responses and survey

Definition of Historical reliability: Event/ Macro history

Using Cartoons to Understand Historical Reliability

Comics/Graphic Novel as alternative

text (Historical biography)

Generation of more interest

Teaching of historical concepts – Reliability, Empathy, Perspective

Deepening of contextual knowledge

Self-directed learning

21st Century Competencies – Knowledge construction & Collaboration

Lesson Package:

- Out of classroom

- Online portal: Spectrum

- Bite-sized lesson activities

- Longitudinal lesson package (stretched over 4 weeks)

- Submission of students’ responses, completed works, etc. online

Student Instructions:

Students divided into groups

• Each group in charge of 1-2

selected pages from the

graphic novel

• They first examined the

reliability of the content of

the given page(s)

• Proceeded to verify the

validity of the page(s) using

other sources like books &

online websites



Spectrum as Lesson Platform


Lesson Package Page

Sample 1 of Student’s Work

Sample 2 of Students’ Work

rule of Hitler, (1933-1945),

Group No. & Page No.

Name 1 Name 2 Name 3 Name 4 Resource 1 Resource 2 Resource 3

Resource 4

1 (p. 34-35) Yijun Wenxin Venetia Minetta

http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007697

http://www.garethjones.org/german_articles/under_hitler_1.htm

https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/prooftexts/v021/21.3budick.html

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/spiegelman.htm

2 (p. 38-39) Angelene Kathleen Kai Wen Natalie

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland#Phase_1:_German_invasion

http://www.polandinexile.com/army1.htm

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0019_0_18918.html

3 (p. 80-81) Amirah Indira Sue Hin Yu Han

http://www.historyplace.com/ worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298027/ The-little-ones-got-away-Incredible-stories-Jewish- children-survived-Nazi-holocaust.html

http://www.ushmm.org/ outreach/en/article. php?ModuleId=10007704

http://www.ushmm.org/ exhibition/hidden-children/insideX/

4 (p.82-83) Gek Chi Olivia Theresa Su Ning John Boyne,The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,Vintage,2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298027/ The-little-ones-got-away-Incredible-stories-Jewish- children-survived-Nazi-holocaust.html

Website-http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/holocaust.htm

website-http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/10/02/hitlers-late-night-television/

Student Reference for Research














Post-lesson Survey Results

Other History-based Graphic Novels

Conclusion

Understanding Comics, Scott

McCloud

Area of focus and interplay

Any artist creating any work in any medium will always follow these six steps whether they realize it or not, and that their order is innate. All aspects of comics have the potential for self-expression but the more a creator learns to command every aspect of their art and to understand their relationship to it, the more likely they can focus on innermost aspects. An artist’s skill is fundamentally related to the depth of their understanding in relation

to these layers.

For Historical Empathy

For Historical Creativity

For Historical Reliability

Context/ Historicity

Audience/ perspective/

creativity

Impact/Form

McCloud,

1993

Discussion: The Pedagogical Value of Cartoons

1. Historical visualization through stories Sometimes teacher will say, “Can you try and visualize

what their life is like?”. And then you realize that there’s

this but that’s all you can think of. But when we did this, this

open our mind to all the things that they could do. So this

really help (us) visualize a lot.

Discussion: The pedagogical value of cartoons

2. Historical agency/ ownership through

creativity

It s new way for history. What is the first thing you think of

when you say to him ‘History’. He will straight away say

boring people. Historian. Talk about history. Artifacts.

How about history lesson? Worksheets on history. Research.

For drawing maybe just sketches of artifacts and re-

creations of it but no one would think of comics

I thought it was an easier way to earn marks and better than

just writing PEELS all the time. It was getting a bit boring. I

thought this was really something unique that I don’t see in

Primary School.

3. Historical thinking (i.e. reliablity and empathy) through comics

Typical vs atypical vs use of various devices to measure believability/

reliability

* Within Schools : Scalability . Across levels.

Crescent Girls: Action Research

St Gabriel’s : PLC Sharing and student

publications. Online space.

Fairfield Methodist: PLC Project

* Possibility for Workshops for 2016 (S2 Zone)

Future Plans

Presenter contacts: 1. Joseph Tham: [email protected] 21st Century Learning Design: http://cradle.crescent.edu.sg/ 2. Lloyd Yeo: [email protected] Student cartoons: http://www.slideshare.net/LloydYeo/student-interpreations-of-singapore-immigration-in-the-19th-century-54713384 3. Ezal: [email protected]

Some Quick Links…

mailto:[email protected]

http://cradle.crescent.edu.sg/



Gravett, Paul. (2005).Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life. New York: HarperCollins.

Carrye Kay Syman, Carrye Kay & Weiner, Robert G. (2013). Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc.

Damico, J.S., Baildon, M., & Greenstone, D. “Examining How Historical Agency Works in Children’s

Literature,” Social Studies Research and Practice 5, no. 1 (2010), 1-12

Eisner, W. (1996) Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. Florida: Poorhouse Press

Clark, J. Spencer Clark .(2013). Encounters with Historical Agency: The Value of Nonfiction Graphic Novels in the Classroom. The History Teacher, 46 (4).

Tatalovic, M. (Dec, 2009.) Science comics as tools for science education and communication: a brief, exploratory study. Journal of Science Communications. 8 (4).

Bickford III , John H. (2010). Complicating Students’ Historical Thinking through Primary Source Reinvention. Social Studies Research and Practice, 5,2.

La Paz, Susan De La Paz and Felton, Mark K. (2010). Reading and writing from multiple source documents in history. Contemporary Educational Psychology 35 (2010) 174–19

McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing Comics. New York: Paradox Press.

Websites http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Comic-Book.html/

http://www.scholastic.com/graphix/scholastic_bonediscussion.pdf

Selected Readings

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Comic-Book.html






