Teaching Science with Comic Books

By: Amanda of Raising da Vinci

Teaching Science with Comic Books

Are you children visual learners? Or do they struggle with reading comprehension? Both of these types of children have found success with illustrative reading concepts or more simply books that are jam packed with visual learning opportunities. You’d be amazed how this helps bring the child the concepts and lessons while keeping it fun! This manga inspired science book is an adventure through the human body, stopping along the way to learn without even realizing it.

If your not familiar with manga, that is probably because the concept comes from books hailing from Japan. Their particular style is big and bold, perfect for kids! Everything is in English and reads from left to right just like you expect. These illustrated stories are in vibrant color and you will travel along with Geo our young hero and his genius scientist friend Dr. Brain. They travel throughout the human body on their adventures in this series. They keep things light and funny while giving detailed imagery that really helps kids relate to what their reading.

The series includes :

1. Survive! Inside The Human Body Volume 1: The Digestive System
2. Survive! Inside The Human Body Volume 2: The Circulatory System
3. Survive! Inside The Human Body Volume 3: The Nervous System

We all know it can be difficult from some children to sit still or get involved with certain subjects. The bright vibrant colors of these volumes and the lure of comic books really helps here though and the learning just flows while they go through the text. Children are drawn to comic books and the colorful way they include a ton of information makes for seamless learning.

These are great for word association with the imagery that makes even complex terms accessible to young minds. Difficult science concepts are easier to explain with detailed imagery. They are best suited for intermediate readers from age 8 and up.   Younger children with strong vocabulary and even relate to the story and what is happening.

Scientific terminology is introduced and reinforced through the adventure. You can use the index to return to parts that were to tough to grasp as well. The books take a top down approach and build the student’s confidence slowly to help them understand the system as a whole. They have down a great job of explaining the functions so you really understand how the different parts come together. Learning new terms and concepts requires memorization and the way the books reinforce this is done extremely well. They take the child along an adventure that is fun and full of scientific information. They are a great supplement to their studies to help reinforce concepts.

The things that happen or are explained earlier in one book are revisited later in the story to create a strong relation between cause and effect with the body’s different systems. Seeing how memorization is a large part of understanding with life sciences (at least I believe so), the reinforcement the books present do an excellent job in helping the reader retain that information. All of the information has been reviewed by medical doctors for accuracy and clarity. They are priced for value and a great addition to keep the fun in learning and help progress those children whose visual learning comes easiest.

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