Creation, Compilation, and Analysis for Educational Chemical Engineering Comics

There is a stigma surrounding chemical engineering that the field and major are difficult and complex. While this can be true as evidenced by nuanced topics such as fugacity and kinetics, one technique to make the theoretical challenges more approachable is to present the concepts more visually, given the general preference of students in STEM for visual learning. As such, this research study focuses on the creation, compilation, and analysis of chemical engineering comics geared towards K-12 students. Comics have become increasingly more prevalent as visual learning tools, with a long history of their educational potential dating back to the 1940’s, so they could be used to help guide more students into chemical engineering without the stigma of the field being too complex.

A series of comics was created displaying how chemical engineering is found in everyday common applications, including chocolate and shampoo. These comics were shared with early engineering students via anonymous survey. All survey participants were evaluated in terms of learning preferences using the “Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire” to determine their general approach to learning, including visual versus verbal and sequential versus global. Students were then asked how comfortable they were with basic ideas of chemical engineering, establishing a baseline for their understanding. After reading the comics, students were further assessed through the MUSIC Model of Motivation, a method of teaching analysis that quantifies the strength of an educational activity through the five perceptions of empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring. Analysis from the surveys focused on gauging the potential and validity of chemical engineering comics as a gateway from K-12 curricula. With the characters in the comics being depicted of various backgrounds, additional questions were asked to assess students’ perception of representation in the curricula.

This paper will share the results from this investigation. Further studies will seek to determine how K-12 students feel when they have no knowledge of college-level engineering courses, how students from public and private schools understand these topics, and the effects of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the characters and storylines.