Using Cartoons to Make Connections and Enrich Mathematics
Session Format
Conference Session (20 minutes)
Target Audience
K12 Educators
Abstract for the conference program
The conference session presentation will discuss the integration of cartoons into a finite mathematics college course. However, cartoon integration is appropriate for any educational level STEM course. Students and the presenter used an online comic strip creator, MakeBeliefsComix.com, to create cartoons that connected concepts to the real world and history. Following Cho, Osborne, and Sanders (2015), students wrote a paragraph about their cartoon and its mathematics. In addition to connecting mathematics to art and writing and unearthing students’ creative side, cartoons helped show the humanistic side of mathematics and promote communication and excitement about mathematics. The presenter developed a rubric to evaluate students’ cartoons. There was evidence that students who did cartoons were better able to explain a concept and give examples of its real-world connection than those who did not. The presentation has potential to encourage the audience to brainstorm about cartoon integration in their courses.
Proposal Track
T1: Teaching and Learning in the STEM Field
Start Date
3-23-2018 11:30 AM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
St. Clair, Janet Dr., "Using Cartoons to Make Connections and Enrich Mathematics" (2018). Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019). 36.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/stem/2018/2018/36
Using Cartoons to Make Connections and Enrich Mathematics
The conference session presentation will discuss the integration of cartoons into a finite mathematics college course. However, cartoon integration is appropriate for any educational level STEM course. Students and the presenter used an online comic strip creator, MakeBeliefsComix.com, to create cartoons that connected concepts to the real world and history. Following Cho, Osborne, and Sanders (2015), students wrote a paragraph about their cartoon and its mathematics. In addition to connecting mathematics to art and writing and unearthing students’ creative side, cartoons helped show the humanistic side of mathematics and promote communication and excitement about mathematics. The presenter developed a rubric to evaluate students’ cartoons. There was evidence that students who did cartoons were better able to explain a concept and give examples of its real-world connection than those who did not. The presentation has potential to encourage the audience to brainstorm about cartoon integration in their courses.
