Skeptical Books for Children – Part Four

Following on from Skeptical Books for Children – Part One; Part Two and Part Three and a segue into gender and literacy with Mind The Gap, as related to the theme of reading strategies.

You may note that I’m moving in a rather chronological fashion through the reading years, so I’d suggest you begin from the start if you’re new to this series of posts.

First of all, I’d like to point out a lovely post over on ScienceBlogs - Friday Sprog Blogging: book review of ‘Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid’. There the child of ‘Dr. Free-Ride’ is a feature of a discussion-style book review, commenting upon the look and content of ‘Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid’ . The entry touches on a few of the aspects that I’ve discussed previously:

Younger offspring: (Gazing at the cover) I like the cute face of the giant squid…. They show school children looking at the dead squid. Also, the book says scientists can learn lots of things by examining the dead squids….

Dr. Free-Ride: Let’s say another child saw this book as a library book and was thinking about whether to get it. What would you tell them about this book to help them decide?

Younger offspring: It has stories people told about giant squids attacking ships or fighting with whales.

In creating texts, you can see how look, construct and creating a sense of wonder is just as important as basic content to a child. Which is why I’d like to discuss some of the aspects that we might overlook when considering making a graphic art or comic art text that attempts to communicate scientific topics or portray scientists or skeptics appealingly to a young target audience.

In previous entries, I emphasized how a more general approach is needed and how drawing upon a wide range of strategies will aid the development of what is (let’s face it) more of a matter of supporting science literacy and literacy overall, rather than ‘getting or finding a skeptic book out for children’. My earlier posts touched upon several incentives in my own country and the USA; such as initiatives to support mothers with learning scientific concepts in order to help educate their children.

Again, as I’ve said before, it’s continuing to focus on the matter of encouraging general literacy as well as science literacy – from the NY Times earlier this month about US results on a nationwide writing test:

“I am happy to report, paraphrasing Mark Twain, that the death of writing has been greatly exaggerated,” said Amanda P. Avallone, an eighth-grade English teacher who is vice chairwoman of the board that oversees the testing program, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.”

Ms. Avallone also said the difference in scores between girls and boys might result in part from lower literacy expectations for boys in the public schools.

“These days I seldom if ever hear the message that math and science do not matter for girls,” she said, “yet I do still encounter the myth that many boys won’t really need to write very much or very well once they leave school.”

I also noticed how a recent Science award presented to a child prompted some reflection on the science literacy debate:

…Too many schools — particularly in poor or rustic areas — give short shrift to science instruction, resulting in widespread ignorance of basic principles, he and other experts said. Jo Ellen Roseman, director of an American Association for the Advancement of Science project to improve science literacy, said fewer than 25 percent of middle-school students recognize that a burning marshmallow is a chemical reaction.

Some critics hold responsible what they see as the current emphasis on “critical thinking” at the expense of basic scientific knowledge; others blame innovations like the No Child Left Behind law that focus on reading and math to the detriment of subjects like science.

I’m reminded of something a friend said to me about creating resources for children too – how one ‘behaviourist’ approach is to say ‘don’t do something a dead guy can do’. Rather than take a negative approach, by giving avoidance-tactics (’a dead guy can avoid making stereotypical characters, a dead guy can prevent themselves from making this mistake’) start proposing ‘can-dos’. So here’s a few more on the topic of art, literature, science and skepticism!

One thing that I mentioned in passing at the Wagga Wagga convention for the Australian Skeptics was inspired by a reference I made to XKCD.com (Randall Monroe kindly gave me permission to use one of his strips as an illustration for the Sunday paper presentation at TAM5). That is, the power of art, particularly graphic novels and comic art when encouraging literacy and engagement with science topics in the younger years.

As a former high-school teacher, I’ve used and recommended many graphic novels, including the work of Australia’s Shaun Tan (The Lost Thing, The Rabbits, The Red Tree and The Arrival), Alan Moore (seriously, try and keep kids away from sneaking peeks at Watchmen and V for Vendetta…), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish, The Wolves In The Walls), and of course, Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, in both upper and lower school English classes. You can see for yourself how graphic art such as picture books and graphic novels have inspired many communities of inquiry sessions in Philosophy for Children programs.

I’ve had to be a moderator for near-fights between students debating whether ‘J.K Rowling ripped off The Books Of Magic when creating Harry Potter’! Thankfully, the only photos that exist of me dressed up as Gaiman’s Death for National Book Week are blurred and only feature in a yearbook that you’ll probably never get a hold of! Neener, neener.

Once the preserve of children, what were once disdained as ‘children’s comics’ have come a fair distance since the ‘Golden Age’. The UK tradition includes particular favorites of mine – 2000AD’s Judge Dredd with its obvious analogies to the political conflicts of the ’80s; Frank Miller’s ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’, Moore’sWatchmen (reminder – check out the podcast Star Ship Sofa #85 for an Alan Moore interview!). The Pulitzer-winning Maus: A Survivor’s Tale of Spiegelman, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, David B’s Epileptic, Marijane Satrapi’s Persepolis to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragiccomic demonstrate that any issue from health, homosexuality, faith, culture and tragedy can be explored and explored brilliantly in this medium.

Of course, when it comes to exploring science, the podcast Skepticality is way ahead of me in looking at this aspect!

Skepticality #035 and #36 – Interviews: Chris Wisnia and Jim Ottaviani
Did you know there were comic books made for lovers of Science? This week we interview not one, but two authors of comic books and graphic novels dealing with the themes of Science and Skepticism; Chris Wisnia of Tabloia and Jim Ottaviani of G.T. Labs.

Thanks to this episode, I was led to investigate the works of Gail Simone, Larry Gonick, Jay Hosler and Tomas Bunk, even Scott McCloud’s The Right Number – “a projected three part online graphic novella about math, sex, obsession and phone numbers presented in an unusual zooming format.” The picture featured here is from the blog of the Science Librarian John Meier at Penn State, who photographed a wonderful sequence of graphic novels he put on display; he presented a paper on Science Graphic Novels at the PaLA Annual Conference in State College and features on his blog a ‘bibliography of science graphic novels and comics as a handout.’ (pdf format).

So after the examples that were given, I do worry about future designed-for-kids ‘comic book hero’ versions of skeptics or scientists with the risk that they could just bang out more of the same old ‘hey look at us, we’re cool: join us for no other purpose except to say we’re cool and you’re one too!’ that seems to happening more than enough already – especially overly-cute or stereotypical “groupie-nerd-babes-on-a-plate-for-scientists’-pleasure” notions of skeptics. Would such a text meet the criteria of, say, the Amelia Bloomer project, or is it just another ‘there’s a niche, let’s fill it?’

It would be more productive to consider whether the content in general of a text, let alone a conference, program, site or any touted ‘resource’ actually prompts any empirically beneficial outcome for both genders and certainly beyond ‘it’s being brought’. But then, it’s all down to finding out more about what is really going on – something I covered in the post She’s Already Got Science – Women, Skepticism And The Need For More Research.

After reading the variety of offerings like graphic novels and comic art that are critiqued by contributors to the Graphic Novel, Comic Art and Science-Fiction carnivals (such as The Feminist SF Carnival), they strongly indicate that it’s not just educators but keen critics and creators themselves who know that such genres deserve good plots, characterisation and overall quality in product. Certainly we should know that kids are smart enough to spot hyperbole and artificiality faster than a plastic duck in a bathtub!

So, I’d conclude (taking on the ‘don’t do the dead guy’ approach!) that it is a vital aspect to be considered if people are considering ‘creating a graphic novel or comic book series for skeptical children’ or even ‘communicating to any audience’ who may look askance or outright reject ’skeptics’ in general if trivial, reverse-sexist or in-joke attitudes are used with little consideration of what power this medium could have.

Instead, acknowledging the power of a good plot as well as the art, creating relevant, three-dimensional characters that empower and recognise the rights of both genders to be portrayed with respect and featuring relevant issues that have broad appeal – as well as encouraging a scientific mindset. It’s the sort of thing that would lead me as an educator to choose and support a text produced by a fellow skeptic (male or female) rather than select another because ‘at least this alternative gets some parts right’.

Basic scientific knowledge, whatever the source, can be encouraged and should be encouraged by a range of strategies. I don’t see why we as educators, parents and concerned community members can’t work towards creating and encouraging products that are not just ‘filling a niche’ or ‘getting a name or image out’ but are of quality and relevance to more than just the children of the skeptically-minded.

Finally (and again) I can’t help pointing out the use of formal science and education sites that have mailouts and publications that can be subscribed to. The CSIRO in Australia has a publication section on their massively interconnected website that features online magazines, reports and research, books and dvds produced by the Australian Government’s scientific and industrial research arm.

More recently the Scientriffic Teacher’s Guide #54 has come out – available in pdf. form for free on their site. Of course, if you haven’t signed up for Science by Email, then here’s yet another example of how incredibly useful it is as a resource that has professionals and keen enthusiasts contributing to its content:

Early last month, we ran a competition for teachers to send in web sites they found interesting, useful or quirky. We had a couple of hundred entries resulting in over 300 links!

The end result is a single webpage containing links to a selection of over one hundred of those suggestions. There are websites for games, multimedia, project information, experiment ideas, lessons, pictures and much more, great for students and teachers alike.

As for graphic art enthusiasts, if you’re an Australian like myself, you might like to note how Neil Gaiman’s tour is taking in Tasmania, Victoria and NSW from April 30th to May 7th – as shown on his ‘Where’s Neil?’ section of his website.

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