Teaching with comics

Down through the generations, countless numbers of children have passed the boredom of their physics lessons by sneakily skimming through the pages of a comic under their desk.

But one Bristol academic has come up with a creation that brings comics legitimately into classrooms across the country.

Dr Emma Weitkamp of the Science Communications Unit at Bristol's University of the West of England has devised Selenia, an online comic about a naughty alien schoolgirl, to encourage kids to engage with their science lessons.

"Selenia was born back in 2003," Emma explains as she leads the way to her office through the maze of corridors at the Frenchay campus.

"One of my colleagues, Frank Burnett, had written a play to try to introduce school children to some of the fundamental ideas of chemistry and physics.

"I volunteered to be a part of it because I love working with children, and we performed it at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

"I became rather fond of the character Selenia – a naughty school girl who's actually an alien with superpowers.

"A couple of years ago, I thought it would be nice to bring Selenia back to life, but I wanted to come up with a medium that could get to more children than a piece of theatre."

Emma had the idea of a comic after realising how popular comics were with youngsters.

"At first, we were thinking of it as an actual printed comic, but when I went out to visit school teachers they said it would be nice if it was an online comic which they could project on to the whiteboard at the front of their classroom.

"This seemed like a brilliant idea because it meant it could become available to schools all over the world."

Emma was able to source funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Royal Society of Chemistry for a 10-episode pilot.

"The idea is that the website features the comics and interactive games for the children," she explains, "but it also features classroom material for teachers, too.

"The comics are designed to appeal to eight to 11-year-olds to build their understanding of scientific processes.

"The kids know that they're learning from the comics, too, but it's a way for them to learn in a fun way."

With funding in place, Emma started to write the stories before beginning her partnership with illustrator Dave Smith.

"I've learned an awful lot about writing for comic strips," Emma says.

"At first, I was writing far too much – you don't realise how little writing there is in a comic.

"But after a while you realise that Dave's talent is to portray a lot of the story in the pictures, so you don't need a lot of writing."

Emma also toured schools around the West to find out exactly what teachers and children wanted from the comics.

"I took samples along and received lots of very useful feedback from the children and the teachers. It helps you to hone what actually entertains children – dinosaurs, for example, seem to be universally loved.

"The teachers were also able to talk to me about the kinds of things they needed to teach in their lessons and how Selenia's adventures might be able to incorporate parts of the curriculum.

"The stories are full of action, magic and fun and are designed to give children the opportunity to explore science in unconventional ways. Selenia's magic powers allow her superhuman controls over the scientific properties of materials – which is great when you're trying to teach children the basics of science, such as the difference between a gas, a liquid and a solid."

More than 50 teachers and 150 students were consulted during the development of the stories.

"Teachers seem very enthusiastic about the comic," says Emma.

"They're already telling us that the stories are stimulating an interest in science – and in reading – in pupils who didn't previously enjoy these topics."

To explore the adventures of Selenia for yourself, visit the website www.science comics.uwe.ac.uk