Time to pull out a comic book

Submitted by David on Sat, 2009-11-14 16:07

Researchers believe [children] can benefit from tales about the caped crusader, Superman and even Dennis the Menace in the same way they can from reading other types of literature, despite teachers and parents often being snooty about comics, experts say. According to the research, critics say that reading comics is actually a "simplified version" of reading that doesn't have the complexity of "real" books with their "dense columns of words and lack of pictures".

But scientists from the University of Illinois claim that reading any work successfully, including comics, requires more than just absorbing text. Professor Carol Tilley, from the department of library and information science, said that comics are just as sophisticated as other forms of reading, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other kinds of books. She said there was evidence that they increased their vocabulary and instilled a love of reading.

- Excerpted from: The Telegraph

More details at Science Daily

Comments

Sarennah

Tue, 2009-11-17 12:47

There's a lot of information out there in education circles about 'graphic novels' - kind of a combination of comic books and novel stories. From what I've heard in conferences lately, it's important to read a wide variety of literature styles. Comics are one style. Reading comics is better than reading nothing. It might also be more approachable to students who fear reading.