Math Comic Books to the Rescue: Can Wonderguy’s Escapades Improve Children’s Mathematics Attitudes?
Janet Lynne Tassell, Elena Novak and Bruce Kessler
Operation Comics is a series of mathematics comic books for 4th–6th grades that was implemented with 142 elementary school students to investigate the effects of an Operation Comics books intervention on student mathematics and comic book attitudes using the Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory (Tapia, 1996; Tapia & Marsh, 2004). The study also examined how teachers integrated comic books in their mathematics curriculum as well as gender and grade level differences in student attitudes. Students in each grade were assigned to either a comic book or regular classroom intervention. The preintervention data revealed that younger students reported significantly higher enjoyment and value of learning mathematics than their older peers. After a two-week comic book intervention, students in all grade levels reported on average similar math attitudes. Moreover, the math comic books were positively received by students and teachers. Lessons learned and recommendations for comic book implementation in the classroom are provided.
Keywords: mathematics, comic books, attitudes