High School > Fine Arts > Sequential Art Videos
The current political and educational climate throughout the world have caused arts constant pressure of proving its leverage for academic performance. Often, the core subjects like math and science are preferred, leaving learning experiences that children truly enjoy to be squeezed in on English classes. This continues to be prevalent even with overwhelming research showing that some students are just not wired to learn through pure texts and numbers.
Creative materials such as sequential art or comics are easier to understand and more enjoyable for children. While they are essentially seen by adults as items for leisure, they can actually be an innovative way to keep children inspired into understanding any topic in school. Children's learning through comics can lead to better literacy and comprehension as seen in results of undergraduate student teachers in the University of London. Comics aid development of confidence and creative capacity, as it is something applicable at a cross-curricular basis.
Sequential art doesn't falter within traditional literacy circles. This new media is in a versatile form that puts 3 aspects of storytelling methods at work, text, art and gutters. These "gutters" are the implied occurrences provided in ellipses, usually what fills in answers to questions that texts and arts cannot answer. The ellipses even often move the story forward. The limited information presented in comics allows students to fill in the gaps to make sense of the story, and that actually keeps their interest tied to the content in an instinctive manner.
Graphic texts in comics are essentially a combination of verbal and nonverbal language, which is what makes it very effective as an educational tool. Nobody really feels compelled to learn from comics. The information just enters into the psyche through being invested into the characters in the graphics, and what they have to say in the ellipses. Nobody needs formal education to comprehend the images received. It is almost instantaneous.
