In the last month, the Genome Adventures team conducted three piloting sessions. The participants included students from Maru-A-Pula School, The Learning Centre and members of the Baylor Out of School, Leadership Program. The purpose of these piloting sessions was to encourage discussion about genetics and heredity and to determine the viability of the method of using comic books to engage the public about genetics and biomedical research.
We began each session by giving each of the participants a pre-test which included multiple choice questions about genetics. Thereafter, the participants were given the script to read followed by the post-test which included the same questions as the pre-test. This was to determine whether the participants improved their knowledge on the topic of genomics after reading the script. At all of these sessions, the participants, on average, performed significantly better after reading the script.
This was followed by a general discussion about the comic book where the participants were asked their opinions regarding the script. They were asked what they liked about the book, what they didn’t like, and who they thought the material was targeted towards. Many students said that they thought that “the script was relatable” since it takes place in Botswana. Some mentioned that they liked the illustrations and others said that they would like to see the script translated into Setswana. A few participants even said that they would love to see animations of the script. One of the members of the Baylor Leadership Program said that the script “gives motivation” and encourages people “to accept the fact they are living with HIV”.
From my perspective, as a volunteer, many of the students appeared to enjoy the comic books and were receptive to the content largely due to the illustrations that made the content easier to grasp. One student said that the information in the comic book was presented in an “interesting manner” that “encourages people to want to know more”. Many of the students said that the comic book could help them with biology in secondary school since the comic book lacks the “lengthy explanations” that make textbooks boring.
We have managed to gather some great feedback from our piloting sessions and have taken into account the numerous suggestions. Thank you to our comic book piloting participants!
We began each session by giving each of the participants a pre-test which included multiple choice questions about genetics. Thereafter, the participants were given the script to read followed by the post-test which included the same questions as the pre-test. This was to determine whether the participants improved their knowledge on the topic of genomics after reading the script. At all of these sessions, the participants, on average, performed significantly better after reading the script.
This was followed by a general discussion about the comic book where the participants were asked their opinions regarding the script. They were asked what they liked about the book, what they didn’t like, and who they thought the material was targeted towards. Many students said that they thought that “the script was relatable” since it takes place in Botswana. Some mentioned that they liked the illustrations and others said that they would like to see the script translated into Setswana. A few participants even said that they would love to see animations of the script. One of the members of the Baylor Leadership Program said that the script “gives motivation” and encourages people “to accept the fact they are living with HIV”.
From my perspective, as a volunteer, many of the students appeared to enjoy the comic books and were receptive to the content largely due to the illustrations that made the content easier to grasp. One student said that the information in the comic book was presented in an “interesting manner” that “encourages people to want to know more”. Many of the students said that the comic book could help them with biology in secondary school since the comic book lacks the “lengthy explanations” that make textbooks boring.
We have managed to gather some great feedback from our piloting sessions and have taken into account the numerous suggestions. Thank you to our comic book piloting participants!
Piloting our first comic book with secondary school students at The Learning Centre School