How to use cartoons in the Singapore history classroom. 8 step process.

1. Using Student Cartooning to
Teach S1 History
8 Feb and 3 March
Mr Lloyd Yeo, AST (SR), MTT History

2. Literature Review
They are thrice damned: damned as a culture,
Purpose: “Damned
as a culture. It is
popular not ‘high”
Outlandish fantasy involving
absurd characters acting in the
most bizarre fashion – the very
antithesis, one might think, of
plausibility.”
At best suitable only
for children (and
retarded
It’s impact is that it is
positively harmful at
worst….a perverse hybrid
Locke, (2005)

3. Good starting point for
thinking about the
specificities of certain
issues (Eisner, 2006)
In psychology, they are
used to represent
processes and thoughts
that people go through in
their mind.
They have the ability
to communicate
various messages.
Concept cartoons are “cartoon-
style drawings presenting
characters with different
viewpoints around a particular
situation (Roesky & Kennepohl,
2008)

4. Stages on using cartoons in the history classroom
 1: Decide on the historical concept
 2: Design and teach the elements that go into cartoons
 3: Activate student prior knowledge
 4: Expose students to local and student cartoon
examples
 5: Provide space for creativity and practice
 6: Get students to articulate and write about historical
evidence
 7: Provide feedback
 8: Design opportunities for group learning and debrief

5. Stage 1
Decide on the Historical Concept

6. Diversity/ Multiple Perspectives: Understanding the past
is complex and people’s experiences vary according to their
ethnic groups, geographical locations, social class, religious
affiliations, gender, age etc.
Evidence: For sources to become evidence, they need to
be judged on their usefulness and reliability in relation to
the inquiry question. source to be studied in terms of its
origins, nature, purpose and content, as well as its
typicality

7. History deals with real people


8.  Why did we select this character to focus on?
 How are we going to find out more about this
character?
 How do we know that what we are planning to draw is
historicall authentic and realistic? (e.g. buildings, item
used etc)
 Is there any particular year we want to focus on? Why?
Sourcing and evidence

9. Stage 2
Design and teach the elements
that go into cartoons

10. Part 1: Story Mountain
 Background
 Main Character (s)
 Problem.
 Resolution
 Closure
 Perspective of cartoonist:
(E.g. First person or 3rd
person narrative)

11. Part 2: Avatar Creation (p.7):
Stick figures
are alright

12. Part 3: Elements of cartoons (p.8.): Comparison exercise
Setting: The Singapore River: It was a place where many migrant communities gathered for
work and trade.
Characters: Different ethnicities engaging in different types of businesses and occupations.
Humour: ERP sign in the river, to highlight that the Singapore River was very congested due
to heavy traffic.
Single Scene

14. 1 2
3

15. Quick Note about using digital cartoons
Using clothes or background to depict time change

16. Using double movement to depict movement

17. Stage 3
Activate Prior Knowledge
 Activate Relevant Prior Knowledge
 Minimize Irrelevant Prior Knowledge
 Compensate for Missing Prior Knowledge
https://mindstepsinc.com/2012/09/activating-prior-knowledge/

18. Activating Relevant Prior Knowledge and
minimizing irrelevant prior knowledge. (p. 10-13)

19. Stage 4: Expose students local and
student examples

22. Great story. Not so great historical content

23. Flashback, illogical sequence and generic writeouts . E.g. war and chaos)

25. Group Project (?)

26. Stage 5: Provide space for
creativity and practice

27. Kinds of punchlines (pp14-15)
1. The Hidden Element: The reader can see what the
character can’t.
2. The Reversal: Character says something unexpected.
3. The Understatement or Underreaction
4. The Exaggeration or Overreaction
5. Misunderstandings of words and intentions
6. Illogical or logical consequences (Reader or
character did not expect something to happen) or
the logical consequence
Source: http://ersby.blogspot.sg/2013/01/a-list-of-punchlines.html

28. Where did he get his source of inspiration? (p.16)

29. Stage 6: Get students to articulate
and write about historical
evidence
 Footnotes
 Glossary and
explanations
 Evidence
 Recordings

30. Footnotes
Glossary and explanations
Evidence
Recordings

31. (p.6): Story Mountain: Setting, Character, Problem, Resolution,
Ending

32. Culture system: A revenue system in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) that forced farmers
to pay revenue to the treasury of the Netherlands in the form of export crops or
compulsory labour
Boats from
Makassar in the
19th century seen in
the National
Museum
www.nas.gov.sg: Inteview with Samsuri Bin Ahmad from Semarang…..

33. Stage 7: Provide feedback
p.17
Historical evidence / historical authenticity and realism
 Setting
 Characters
 Material culture
Reading
 Relevance to theme
 Readability

34.  Group Work
 Pair Work
 Individual Work

35. Stage 8: Design opportunities for
group learning and debrief

36. Sometimes teacher will say, “Can you try and visualize what their life is like?”. And
then you realize that there’s this but that’s all you can think of. But when we did this,
this open our mind to all the things that they could do. So this really help (us) visualize
a lot.
Historical visualisation through
stories

37. Historical agency/ ownership through creativity
It s new way to ‘see’ history: What is the first thing you think of when you say to him
‘History’. He will straight away say boring people. Historian. Talk about history.
Artifacts.
It’s a new way to look at history lessons: How about history lesson? Worksheets on
history. Research. For drawing maybe just sketches of artifacts and re-creations of it
but no one would think of comics (and stories)
It’s about motivation and creativity: I thought it was an easier way to earn marks and
better than just writing PEELS all the time. It was getting a bit boring. I thought this
was really something unique that I don’t see in Primary School.