ANNOUNCEMENT: A conference for teachers to learn how to use comics as an educational tool

· 90% of the information that the brain manages is visual.

ANNOUNCEMENT: A conference for teachers to learn how to use comics as an educational tool

· 90% of the information that the brain manages is visual. Neuroscientific evidence shows that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Therefore, learning through comics can be a highly efficient teaching system.

· On the 19th, 20th and 21st of this month, Valencia hosted the I Teaching with Comic International Congress organized by the Comic Studies Chair and promoted by the University of Valencia and the SM Foundation.

· This first congress has had the participation of the national comic award winners Paco Roca, Cristina Durán and Miguel Ángel Giner and has been attended by professors, librarians, researchers and experts who are dedicated to teaching.

Madrid, October 24, 2022.- Visual stimulation is a direct way of teaching, since the human being pays more attention to images than to words. This is demonstrated by the latest scientific studies: there are more than 20,000 million neurons that process visual information, and in addition, the human brain is capable of managing images quickly even if it has only seen them for 13 thousandths of a second.

Studies also show that any activity or image that provokes an emotion will be remembered by the students with greater roots, because it generates an emotional memory.

With the aim of deepening and continuing to explore the applications of comics as an educational tool, Valencia has hosted Teaching with Comics, the first world conference on this subject organized by the Chair of Comic Studies of the SM-Universitat de València Foundation. Hundreds of teachers, librarians, experts and researchers have participated in this event, and it has offered attendees in person and virtually the possibility of participating in more than 100 communications, 3 plenary conferences and 3 round tables.

Use comics as an educational tool

There are many reasons and scientific evidence why comics can become a very powerful tool to promote learning in the classroom."Comics already published can be used in the classroom, coinciding with the curriculum of the subjects, and not only in the field of humanities. There are very interesting experiences in the use of manga and anime for teaching subjects such as physics and chemistry or integral differential calculus", explained Álvaro Pons, Ph.D. in Physics and director of the Fundación Cómic Studies Chair. SM-University of Valencia.

In turn, according to the expert, drawing comic strips can also be used as a system to promote learning. "Drawing involves using visual language and synthesis of elements. When students draw what they have learned, they relate the content they have addressed and understand it. In this aspect, sharing the experiences of teaching practice is very enriching."

In its first edition, the Congress has been articulated around the reading and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) approved by the UN. Some aspects have been quality education, the reduction of inequalities, care for the environment, gender equality, the end of poverty, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption or universal access to justice and peace. , among others.

The ELCIS Research Group and the Department of Didactics of Language and Literature have also collaborated in organizing the event. Researchers of recognized prestige such as Nick Sousanis (San Francisco State University), Ana Merino (Iowa University) and Gino Frezza (Universita di Salerno) have also been protagonists of various presentations, in which 3 round tables have also taken place dedicated to the presence of comics in the library, socio-educational intervention and the work of authors, with the presence of national comic award winners Paco Roca, Cristina Durán and Miguel Ángel Giner.

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