Doodle it to discover it

Ramya Sriram

“Draw me a lion,” I said to a group of young people during a workshop a couple of years ago. The variety of lions that emerged was dazzling – there were happy lions, angry lions, peaceful lions, and napping lions. It made me realize that everyone observes, processes, and expresses differently, and that’s what makes each of us unique.

I read many comic books and comic strips as a kid, which I’d like to believe helped me become a good storyteller.

Encouraging children to develop a strong visual language and vocabulary early on helps improve their creative thinking abilities. For most of us, pictures stick in our heads in a way that text doesn’t. Comic characters, in particular, have always had a strong influence on kids. They break the boundaries of human limitations that reality brings. We have absolutely no trouble in accepting that Superman can fly or that Spider-Man can cling to vertical walls. We know that anything can happen in a cartoon.

Cartoons/comics can also be used to educate as much as they are used to entertain (exemplified by characters such as Dora the Explorer). Within a school environment, cartoons can be used:

• as icebreakers to introduce tough topics to students
• to add some element of humour to otherwise dry subjects
• to break down complex information into simple visuals
• to grab the attention of children
• to trigger discussion and stimulate debates
• to improve observation and grasping power
• to help children overcome the fear of self-expression by encouraging them to draw

Here are some simple ways cartoons and comics can be used for learning as well as teaching.

Get the kids to draw
In the popular book The Little Prince, the protagonist draws the picture of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant and shows it to the ‘grown-ups’ excitedly. The adults take one look and dismiss the drawing as a hat. These are exactly the kind of adults we don’t want to be. We want to be able to allow children to come up with their own interpretations, stories, and answers.

The very first step to using art in education is to encourage children to draw. There is a certain freedom a blank piece of paper gives a child that standing in front of a class doesn’t.

For younger grades, give the class a broad theme – for example, the jungle. Kids love drawing animals, and when they draw, they stop and think about what they’re drawing – its size, shape, and colour. Once they’re done, discuss each animal in detail – its habitat, the way it has adapted and evolved, the threats it faces, and ways in which we can protect it.

Another drawing exercise is to take the kids to an open place where they can sit and draw what they see around them. Give them an hour to observe and translate what they see, smell, and hear onto paper. This improves the child’s observation powers and also arouses her/his curiosity. After the exercise, ask each one of them to talk about what they’ve drawn. Be prepared, you’re in for surprises!

Develop cartoons that aid in understanding science

Some complex ideas and theories in science can be taught with the aid of simple visuals. Teachers can stimulate discussion around particular topics in science by using cartoons as teaching aids. A stick figure is one of the easiest and yet powerful tools that one can use to build a story; artistic skills aren’t necessary!

To initiate a class into a discussion, you can use simple cartoons which provoke questions. Take the example of levers in science. You could draw a cartoon of a seesaw and have a comic dialogue around it. Then ask the class what they think. Through the following discussion, the concepts of load, fulcrum, and effort can be explained.

Simple drawings can be used to explain a variety of science concepts. For example, you could draw an astronaut on the moon wanting to drink out of a bottle of juice. This illustration could be used for a variety of concepts. For example – would it help if he had a straw? Can he go back into the spaceship and drink it? Is there gravity on the moon? What would happen if he poured the liquid out of the bottle? And so on. You could add characters as you go along.

You could also draw the kids as characters themselves in the comic, as they give their inputs.

Example: Rahul from this classroom suddenly finds himself on the moon [draw Rahul next to the astronaut]. The astronaut asks him for help. Will Rahul be able to hear him?

A brilliant book, which uses illustrations as teaching aids is the The Agenda of the Apprentice Scientist by French scientist Nicole Ostrowsky, a set of easy, 365 science experiments for children and adults of all ages.

Cartoons in history/literature/storytelling

History is as dry or as dramatic as the teacher makes it. Many children, especially during high school, are too full of energy and too restless to learn by rote dates, events, and names. History is often considered among the duller subjects.

A great way to help kids understand historical events is to develop short comics, infographics or charts that help them understand the story and sequence of events. These comics/charts can be developed along with the kids in each class. Take one historical event and draw the first panel. Have each student come up and write/illustrate one aspect of the sequential story, and provide guidance as it unfolds. You could also help them associate an icon with a particular character. This way, stories comes alive in the classroom.

Cartoons for teaching language

Cartoons can be used to help kids understand the rather strange ways of the English language. Many figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, and idioms conjure up visual images in our heads. An easy way to get kids to draw parallels is by encouraging them to illustrate various figures of speech or to provide visual cues for them. It could also be an opportunity to explain the background behind the phrases. Idioms such as “biting off more than you can chew” or “I heard it through the grapevine” can be illustrated in pictures, which help them stick in the student’s head.

Cartoons for analysis of current affairs

The editorials of most newspapers have pocket cartoons on current affairs. For high school kids in particular, it would be healthy to hold debates around the topic. Look through the morning’s newspapers to find an editorial cartoon that could trigger interesting conversation and bring in different perspectives.

Cartoons for assessment

An effective way to assess whether a student has understood a concept/story is to develop visual panels. Make them on small cards, jumble them up, and ask the student to arrange the cues according to the story.

Story-building: cartoons for fun/self-expression

Cartoons are ultimately great teaching tools in themselves. An exercise that can be used across ages is to give the students six to seven words and ask them to weave a story. Drawing stories in the form of cartoons is something that could be exciting for all of us, no matter what age group. And each individual comes up with a unique story! Students in particular benefit by being exposed to every other individual’s way of thinking and expression. It is also a great way to have fun!

The most exciting part of all of this, of course, is that we also end up being students in the process, since the children have so much to teach us. So go ahead, happy drawing, and happy learning!

The author is a cartoonist and writer. She runs The Tap, www.thetap.in, where she tells stories through words and pictures. She can be reached at ramyasriram1@gmail.com.