Capturing Early Eager Learners with Chemistry Comics
After seeing inequities in science education throughout her 25-year teaching career, a UA chemistry instructor is taking a novel approach to solving the problem: She’s writing comic books to help kids better understand the fundamentals of chemistry and to reframe the field as one anyone can get into. About half of college students who start … Read more
As a first-year student at the University of Richmond in 1984, Colleen Kelley loved her chemistry course. But she got a C on her first exam. She walked back to her dorm in Lora Robins Court feeling crushed. “But to this day, I tell all my students, that C was the greatest gift I could … Read more
Colleen Kelley graduated in 1991 with a Ph.D. in chemistry at Penn State. After graduating, she pursued a career in academia that led her to her current teaching position at the University of Arizona. Teaching at the university level inspired her to pursue a new creative outlet through comic books that teach young students about … Read more
Bivian ContrerasMarch 25, 2022 TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A chemistry instructor at the University of Arizona creates comics not only to make chemistry fun but to make it easier for students to learn. Colleen Kelley manages the instructional laboratories in the UArizona Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her goal is to make chemistry education more … Read more
Not only are comic-book characters a great tool for science education—so is the medium itself, as Colleen Kelley aims to show with Kids’ Chemical Solutions, a series of comic books she created to teach general chemistry concepts to kids ages 8–12. “I think there’s a culture around chemistry that’s not all that positive, that actually … Read more
One University of Arizona instructor hopes to change the narrative when it comes to chemistry through comic books. “I want people to be like, wow, you know, I had so much fun learning chemistry and even though I didn’t become a chemist, I get it, and it’s such a cool discipline,” said Dr. Colleen Kelley, … Read more
