Cartoons explaining science | Economy

Making science easier to understand is the topic of the Comixplain research project at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. The focus is on the human tendency toward storytelling.

(red/chuck) People love to tell and listen to stories. They do this not only to entertain or entertain, but also to convey content and information and thus connect ideas and communication processes. The goal is to better express ideas and viewpoints or make various worldly or social processes understandable to others. In the Comixplain research project, researchers at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences are now using this human tendency toward storytelling and creating cartoons that help students better understand scientific concepts.

The benefits of comics in communicating science
“Many studies show that comics are very useful for conveying teaching and learning content to both children and adults. “This is not only due to the fact that they are a familiar medium, but also due to their unique combination of special features,” explains Victor Adriel de Jesus Oliveira of the Creativity\Media Institute \Technologies at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, who leads the project.

And: “In addition to the narrative structure that only educational videos usually have, they contain visualizations and diagrams and allow for a flexible spatial arrangement of elements and concrete communication even with abstract topics.” Readers or users can consume content at their own pace, which is not possible Mostly with video,” says Oliveira, a lecturer at FH.

A new educational format
As part of Comixplain, a new educational format has been developed that uses comic strips to introduce students to the content of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Content was jointly developed by students and teachers, and all work steps were evaluated through peer review procedures.

Finally, it was checked how well students understood the content provided and how they approached and engaged with new learning materials, FH said in a press release. All results and materials are available online for free, see link. St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences funded the project as an internal project as part of the Strategy and Innovation 2022 Call.

red/czaak, Economic Issue web article, April 2, 2024