Special Issue 11.1: Comics and Education
Articles are invited for a special issue of Studies in Comics (11.1) on the theme of Comics and Education. Comics have enjoyed a resurgence in the classroom as educators, creators, and scholars have come to recognise the diverse ways in which the medium can be used to support literacy, communication skills, and creativity. Significantly, the use of comics for and as education also promotes cross-medial learning, as readers may use the form as a starting point for further reading, but also to enhance and supplement other pedagogical materials. As Syma and Weiner argue, “it is no longer a question of whether sequential art should be used in educational settings, but rather how to use it and for what purpose” (2013, 1). Comics present an immersive, engaging, and memorable tool for communication because they require the reader to actively participate in the meaning-making process by utilising verbal, visual, spatial, and gestural modes of understanding among others (Bakis 2008). Indeed, comics can help readers of all ages understand complex ideas through these means and allow teachers and learners to explore, stimulate, and enhance educational outcomes.
In recognition of the foregoing, we invite papers that focus on one or more of the following topics, although the list is not exhaustive:
- Case studies of education comics/comics as education
- Teaching and learning with published comics
- Teaching and learning by creating comics
- Comics and literacy
- Public information comics
- Comics as pedagogy
- Comics and embodied learning
- Comics and emotional development
- Comics and learner-based outcomes
- Comics and adult education
- The educational mission of networks like Graphic Medicine and Graphic Justice
Submissions
Please send complete articles for consideration, along with any queries to studiesincomics@googlemail.com with SIC 11.1 in the subject heading. When you send the article the words SIC 11.1 ARTICLE in the subject heading. Articles should be 4000 – 6000 words long and must be received by 1st November 2019 along with a biographical note of up to 150 words. All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Papers must be submitted in English. All articles submitted should be original work and must not be under consideration by other publications. This special issue will be published mid-2020.
We also welcome reviews of new publications and exhibits and short pieces of creative work (1-5 pages in length). Creative work should be relevant to the theme of the special issue. Reviews of publications and conferences and exhibitions: please include the words SIC 11.1 REVIEW PUBLICATION or SIC 11.1 REVIEW CONFERENCE or SIC 11.1 REVIEW EXHIBITION in the subject heading. Creative submissions should include the words SIC 11.1 CREATIVE in the subject heading.
Guest Editors: Dr Damon Herd, Professor Divya Jindal-Snape and Megan Sinclair (University of Dundee).