pedagogical value of cartoons in the history classroom
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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)
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
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
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
They had their feet together and jumped
into the ocean!
I saw a suicide!
Some kids don’t even have money
for lunch!
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
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.
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Empathy
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.
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity
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
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity
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
Using Cartoons to Enhance Historical Creativity
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
Using Cartoons to Understand Historical Reliability
Using Cartoons to Understand Historical Reliability
Spectrum as Lesson Platform
Using Cartoons to Understand Historical Reliability
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
Post-lesson Survey Results
Post-lesson Survey Results
Post-lesson Survey Results
Post-lesson Survey Results
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: tham_chin_pang@crescent.edu.sg 21st Century Learning Design: http://cradle.crescent.edu.sg/ 2. Lloyd Yeo: lloyd_yeo@moe.edu.sg Student cartoons: http://www.slideshare.net/LloydYeo/student-interpreations-of-singapore-immigration-in-the-19th-century-54713384 3. Ezal: ezal.fmss@fairfieldsec.org
Some Quick Links…
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
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