Collegiate classes struggle to accommodate diverse learning styles, often relying on reading and auditory methods. These methods can be challenging for complex topics, leaving many learners confused and unaccounted for. To address this issue, the research team has created a series of chemical engineering comics as learning tools for first-year students, which have been administered to schools across the United States. During development, researchers simplified key concepts to ensure broad accessibility and diverse representation, enabling students from all backgrounds to see themselves as a chemical engineer. Concept questions have accompanied the comics as a way to measure and track students' comprehension and engagement, thereby assessing the impact of visual learning tools in introductory chemical engineering classes. Data from a previous implementation of comics in a university setting saw students' confidence and performance increase, driving interest in a larger sample across more universities. As this project is ongoing, the exact impact on comprehension and confidence is unknown, but the general trend is promising.
