Paper ID #21772

Using Cartoons to Enhance Engineering Course Concepts

Dr. Edward James Diehl P.E., University of Hartford
Dr. Diehl received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2016, his
MS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer at Hartford in 1996, and BS in Marine Engineering
Systems at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. He worked as a Professional Engineer in the
maritime industry for 17 years and taught mechanical engineering courses for the past 8 years. His
research interests include simulation of mechanical vibration in gear systems for condition monitoring
and engineering pedagogy.

c American Society for Engineering Education, 2018

 Using Cartoons to Enhance Engineering Course Concepts
Abstract:
Cartoons, while often associated with a younger audience, can assist some college engineering
students in making relatable connections to course concepts and breaking down barriers to
understanding. Intermediate engineering courses such as Dynamics and Fluid Mechanics,
typically taken sophomore and junior year, contain numerous essential ideas that students must
completely understand and build upon as the courses progress and retain for follow-on classes
senior year. Cartoons, if sufficiently relevant and memorable, can help a portion of the
engineering student population “grasp and retain” concepts. This paper describes experience
creating and using original cartoon characters in teaching Dynamics and Fluid Mechanics.
Development of the characters, adapting them for each concept throughout the semesters, and
examples where they are incorporated in the class notes, learning management system, classroom
slides and classroom whiteboard work are described. Some student feedback is presented, and
future research to quantify effectiveness is proposed. Lessons learned and advice for other
instructors wishing to incorporate cartoons into their lessons is also provided.
Introduction
Two years ago, a colleague described an ASEE article she’d read about using science comics to
teach chemistry [1] and suggested the author try doing something similar. Scheduled to teach
Fluid Mechanics in the Fall and Dynamics in the Spring, cartoon characters were created for both
classes: Wetted and Vapes” for Fluids (Figure 1), “Newtdog and Wormy” for Dynamics (Figure
2). Instead of comics, these characters were drawn involved in various topically relevant
situations without captions. Throughout the next two semesters over 60 cartoons were created
and incorporated into the courses in a variety of ways. These included embedding the images in
handout notes, featuring them in the Learning Management System (LMS) front page to
introduce topics, drawing them on the board before class, and discussing and critiquing them
with students. This became an interesting way to have fun with topics that aren’t necessarily
enjoyable, and students responded with interest and positive feedback. The challenge of
imagining a single image that conveys the central idea of each topic or expresses distinctions
within concepts provided an opportunity for instructor creativity. With each new cartoon and
new challenge, the author grew more enthusiastic about the potential benefits of using cartoons
in these engineering courses.
The purpose of this paper is to share the author’s experience using cartoons in engineering
classes. Also presented here is the approach to developing the characters, examples of
inspiration for cartoons that capture topics, and the technique for turning pencil sketches into
color cartoon images via free and common software. It is hoped that this information will inspire
and assist other engineering instructors to create cartoons for their engineering classes.
 Figure 1. The Fluid Mechanics: Wetted and Vapes.

Figure 2: Newtdog and Wormy (inset painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller [2])
Objectives
There were three primary objectives with these cartoons: concept mnemonics, classroom humor
and discussion provocation.
The “concept mnemonic” aspect attempts to capture a concept by making the image memorable
and providing a graphical association. This mnemonic can be reinforced by referring to the
cartoon to provide a “hint” when entire class is asked a Socratic question and waiting for them to
respond. Typically, when one of these questions is asked, the ensuing blank stares and silence
become a waiting game between teacher and class, often eventually ending in surrender with the
teacher answering the question. If one were to recall their own experiences as a student when
asked these questions, they most likely will remember the difficulty or even some mental
paralysis. Referencing a mnemonic cartoon can nudge students towards the answer and make
the lightbulb go off and an answer come out. Breaking that Socratic question paralysis is
amongst the goals, but some longer-term mnemonic value is possible beyond the present
semester. The retention of some core concepts from semester to semester and then even after
graduation via these simple cartoons is an even more ambitious goal.
Many students come into Dynamics and Fluid Mechanics forewarned by their peers about the
difficulty of the courses and the drudgery they’re about to endure. Another objective in
introducing cartoons was to lighten the classroom mood. Described later when discussing the
character creation, Sir Isaac Newton is purposefully drawn to appear friendly and a little goofy to
make him more relatable than the stuffy portrait with a powered wig seen in Figure 2. Wetted
and Vapes are characters who act as somewhat mischievous and silly mascots for the class. A
potential hazard here is to come off as childish and thereby turn off some students who might
feel the cartoons were beneath them.
In addition to the mnemonic nudge for breaking a Socratic question stalemate, students are
encouraged to question the cartoons, even critique them or suggest alternative ways to represent
the concepts. It is hoped that by discussing the creation of the cartoons and getting their
feedback that they would also pick apart the concepts represented in more detail.
Literature Review
A literature review of existing pedagogy on STEM cartoons and comics was preformed after the
two semesters of cartoons was finished, rather than before. There are many “science comics”
and a fair amount of pedagogy research about them. While it would have been greatly beneficial
to perform this research before spending so much time and effort, the approach taken was
somewhat autodidactic, allowing for a fresh perspective. The objectives in creating these
cartoons described in this paper were somewhat different from most of the examples and papers
found in the literature search. The typical approach discussed in the literature are comic books,
comic strips and captioned cartoon images, while the cartoons presented in this paper are
individual drawings without words that attempt to have the image alone make each individual
concept memorable.
The most basic of cartoons and comics have been used to provide instructions. Wirth and Burtt
[3] wrote a short 1945 paper “Teaching Technique through Cartoons” which reminds the author
of old Department of Defense safety manuals, showing right and wrong ways to perform tasks.
Hirst [4] describes cartoons as visual mnemonics that make instructions easier to remember and
notes that ancient Romans described how images make subject matter more memorable,
especially if the images are “bizarre, striking, [and] unusual.” His example cartoons are also of
the instruction manual type.
More pedagogically focused research was performed by Keogh and Naylor [5] regarding
“Concept Cartoons” in science. This work has been cited often (for example [6] and [7]) and
measurable results confirmed by other researchers [8]. The concept cartoons they created and
studied often dealt with science misconceptions and their purpose was to generate classroom
discussion of competing ideas amongst the students. This research was focused on primary and
secondary education rather than college, but the idea of using the cartoons to generate discussion
is relevant. For instance, an often-cited cartoon of theirs involves three children deciding whether
putting a coat on a snowman will affect how quickly it melts. While this is a thought provoking
cartoon and an excellent discussion starter, the lasting impact is unclear. One might ask, if
students will remember or retain the correct conclusion if they were to see the same cartoon after
some time has elapsed.
Bahrani and Soltani [9] discuss the pedagogical values of cartoons, describing among the
rationale for using cartoons their appeal to visual learners, especially when used at the
introduction of a topic. While their focus was on language learners rather than STEM, their
points that cartoons have an immediate impact visually that is universal and can help “create a
light, playful mood” in the classroom coincide with one of objectives described herein.
More literature was found discussing STEM comics than cartoons [1], [6], [7],[10], [11]. The
distinction is important as comics are most often considered “sequential art” [12], while cartoons
are single frame images. Comics generally offer a longer narrative than cartoons and much of the
pedagogy concerning comics focuses on their appeal as alternatives to other more formal
instruction. An excellent example of a mixture of comics and cartoons used for science and
engineering instruction is Gonick’s The Cartoon Guide to Physics [13] which features plenty of
words while remaining more cartoon oriented since it is not sequential. Excellent collections of
web-based science comics and animations are [14] and [15] which demonstrate the quantity and
quality of independent work being actively generated as well as the enthusiasm for this genre.
Simpler cartoons with the express purpose of memorably capturing a single concept are not as
common as science comics, but they do exist. A remarkable example is the Dynamics textbook
used at the author’s new university [16] which includes original cartoons throughout in
somewhat similar situations as those created with Newtdog and Wormy.
Methodology
For methodology, the approach to creating these characters is described including the inspiration
for a few example cartoon scenarios as well as how they were made to look like authentic
cartoons rather than just doodles.
Character Creation
The characters used for these cartoons needed to be easy-to-draw and able to perform actions
which represent the topical concepts. The simplicity of the drawings allows them to be sketched
quickly, so when inspiration occurs, it can be captured without much concern about the details
looking perfect. In this respect, the Fluid Mechanics were much better characters than Newtdog
and Wormy, requiring much less attention to the physiology or proportions. Finding a cartoon
character to represent a topic is perhaps the most important hurdle. An example of this hurdle is
the author’s recent inability to decide upon characters for his other courses such as Machine
Design. Preliminary ideas for that course are discussed in a later section.
Wetted and Vapes represent the two basic types of fluids: liquids and gases. Choosing a water
droplet and a cloud seems natural. Wetted is a water drop who wears flip-flops and always has a
puddle under him. Even though he is nose-less and pants-less, his overall features and especially
gloved hands were somewhat inspired by a combination of SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick
Star. Some of the appeal to this suggested influence is that many in this generation of students
grew up watching SpongeBob SquarePants and the look of the Wetted might feel familiar to
them. Wetted is the protagonist in most of the fluids cartoons and has Vapes as his loyal, if not
somewhat reticent, companion. Vapes is a cloud with stick arms because how could a vapor ever
hold anything anyway. He has a shadow underneath which gives him a bit of a pessimistic look.
The name “Wetted” is taken from the “wetted surface area” used in drag resistance of a ship’s
hull in Naval Architecture. The inspiration for naming the cloud “Vapes” was a student vaping
near campus, exhaling huge plumes of smoke in a somewhat ridiculous manner.
“Newtdog” is a nickname a much younger and cooler colleague uses for Sir Isaac Newton to
amuse his students. This professor’s teaching style is very engaged with the students and quite
effective at making Dynamics seem less stuffy and formal. Likewise, his giving Sir Isaac
Newton a silly nickname seems to help break down barriers between 20-year-old students and a
330-year-old science. Newtdog is drawn to seem friendly, adventurous (just as Sir Isaac Newton
was revolutionary) and a little bit of a dandy with his powered wig, frilly cuffs, long coat and
buckled shoes. Also included is a “buddy” for him in Wormy, whose name references an early
SpongeBob SquarePants episode. Wormy always appears in the iconic apple that apocryphally
led Newton to “discover gravity.” Just as Wetted has Vapes for a “straight man” foil character,
Wormy is that for Newtdog. Some of the humor comes from Wormy being along for the ride
and not always as enthusiastic as the more adventurous Newtdog.
The humor of the characters is important because a primary goal is to add some levity to the
course topics and make the images (and therefore concepts they represented) more memorable
because of the cartoon absurdity.
Concept Scenario Inspiration
Each cartoon was created by reviewing “the next class,” looking for one concept that is central to
that class, and then imagining what the characters could do that would memorably represent that
concept. Often the important concept is to isolate an important distinction student should make
within the topic. Some examples are described below of the thought process that went into
creating the image to suit the concept. It should be mentioned that not every effort was entirely
successful. Also noteworthy is that some images purposefully have little or no pedogeological
benefit but instead were just meant to be funny and contribute to instructor and student report.
The identification of what distinguishes a fluid from a solid is a concept described on the first
day of Fluid Mechanics: fluids cannot sustain a shear force. The idea that even the most viscous
fluid will continuously deform to an applied shear force is important for the concept of viscosity.
In Figure 3 Wetted is shown being cut by a pair of scissors, which students are reminded are
often called “shears” by their grandmothers. The inspiration for a cartoon is often the same as
the answer to “what is the most important take-away an instructor wants the student to retain?”
Anticipating potential usefulness later in the semester for an image and concept is an important
consideration and therefore source of inspiration. For instance, later in the course a Socratic
question will be asked where the desired answer is “fluids can’t sustain a shear”. The instructor
can allude back to this cartoon if the class needs a hint; perhaps making scissor motions with
fingers or reminding the class about the cartoon.
 Figure 3: Fluids cannot sustain a shear force.
Making distinctions between concepts became a very common usage for the cartoons. Figure 4
shows The Fluid Mechanics trapped inside C-clamps to represent the incompressible and
compressible behavior of liquids versus gases. Part of the motivation/inspiration is to use this
image later in the semester when asking leading questions to solicit “liquids are incompressible,
and gases are compressible”. One downside of this cartoon is that some students may not be
familiar with C-clamps and therefore the visual might carry less meaning for them, even if it is
explained what a C-clamp is or does.

Figure 4: Incompressible and compressible fluids.

A similar but more complicated use of the distinction purpose is included in Figure 5, where
Newtdog is representing two different two-dimensional coordinate systems: Polar (aka “Radial
and Transverse”) and Path (aka “Normal and Tangential”) coordinates. These two images also
had multiple aspects intended for use in the description and discussion of the velocity and
acceleration components within these coordinate systems. The essential element of the polar
diagram is the reel of the fishing pole to represent 𝑟̇ and 𝑟̈ distinguishing these terms from the
complete radial 𝑟̈ − 𝑟𝜃̇ and transverse 𝜃̈ − 2𝑟̇ 𝜃̇ components of acceleration. The spinning
stool helps to establish and isolate 𝜃̇ and 𝜃̈ as separate variables that also contribute to the
complete acceleration components in the polar coordinate system. The key to the usefulness of
this image is it can help students to remember what each variable represents in the longer,
somewhat confusing equation. Likewise, the path coordinate drawing is useful in several ways
including contrasting with polar coordinates. One important take-away in this drawing is that
velocity is always tangent to the path and that a normal component of acceleration in needed to
keep from flying off the path. Alluding to these images later in the semester was also a prime
source of inspiration.

Figure 5: Polar and Path coordinate systems.

The next three figures represent a successive increase in complexity of related topics.
Bernoulli’s equation and the Navier-Stokes equations have several various parts, so cartoons
representing them need several images. Since the parts can be described as pressures and/or
forces present in the equations, each image represents a pressure or force. Bear in mind that
these images are embedded in the notes provided for the students to optionally print out before
class, so they can write their own notes next to the images and equations. In Figure 6 are three
different “kinds of pressure”: static, dynamic and hydrostatic that are included in the Bernoulli
equation (also shown in the figure). By making three separate images the students can make
associations between these three pictures and the three parts within the equation.

𝑝 +
⏟ 𝜌𝑉 + 𝛾∙𝑧 = constant along a streamline

Figure 6: Three kinds of pressure represented in the Bernoulli equation.

One of the most common calculations using the Bernoulli equation is within a Venturi tube
where there is a tradeoff between dynamic pressure and static pressure. While the gages and
Wetted’s demonstrated speed change indicate this trade-off, the low vacuum at the neck where
the highest velocity exists also causes Wetted to flash into Vapes representing cavitation. There
are multiple concepts captured here, and the absurdity of the character swap can make the
cavitation aspect more memorable.
 𝑝 + 𝜌𝑉 = 𝑝 + 𝜌𝑉
Figure 7: Bernoulli venturi tube.
One of the most complicated topics included in undergraduate Fluid Mechanics is the
introduction of the Navier-Stokes equation. Due to time and course content constraints, this
topic is most often just introductory, and sometimes might not even have a homework
assignment associated with it. Since the Navier-Stokes equation contains partial differential
equations and can be written in multiple ways (here it is shown only in one dimension), it can be
quite intimidating. The motivation for the cartoon was to make each component memorable and
broken into parts: dynamic forces equal pressure gradients plus gravitational forces plus shear
forces. This was an ambitious topic to tackle for both students and teacher (as well as
cartoonist). It may not have been completely successful, but the earlier two cartoons helped to
set the stage for this more complex representation.

Figure 8: Navier-Stokes equation.

Many students will recall the apocryphal story of Sir Isaac Newton “discovering” gravity when
sitting beneath an apple tree and being struck on the head by a falling apple. This scene is shown
in Figure 9 and used to represent the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy. Adults
who grew up in the 1970’s will remember the Schoolhouse Rock cartoon segment “A Victim of
Gravity” which contains the verse “Isaac Newton underneath the apple tree, One hit him on the
head, He said, ‘That must be gravity!’” [17] A YouTube video of this segment can be played in
class, allowing the students to get a chuckle at the 70’s kitsch and perhaps at the instructor’s
expense for being nostalgic. In this instance the idea for the drawing topic came before the
concept context where it would be useful.
 Figure 9: Potential energy versus kinetic energy.
Another source of inspiration are analogies instructors have been using for years. For instance,
when discussing Eulerian versus Lagrangian perspectives in Fluid Mechanics, it is common to
describe standing on an overpass watching the cars (particles) go by for Eulerian as opposed to
riding along in the car (as the particle) to observe the flow. This is shown in Figure 11 using a
Ford Mustang convertible which is the author’s favorite car, as he’s told his students often.

Figure 11: Eulerian versus Lagrangian perspective.

The above examples are intended to explain the inspiration process, but describing how to be
creative is rather difficult, so providing examples is perhaps the best way to answer, “how did
you think of that?”. The ideas mostly occurred to the author while getting ready for work or
when about to leave work. Advice would be to avoid trying to force an idea, which often causes
stagnation in creative pursuits. Allowing the ideas to fall into place on their own and being on
the lookout for opportunities is preferable. As with many creative things like painting or writing
songs or poetry, one improves at capturing concepts into cartoons as one keeps at it and the ideas
begin to appear more often. Avoid feeling pressure to generate an idea and seek out fellow
faculty’s feedback to help to shape some weaker initial ideas. Getting the students involved in
the creative process, asking them for suggestions or critiquing the images can help student
engagement as will be discussed in the next section.
Image Creation Technique
When shown these cartoons colleagues often ask, “How long does this take you?” or “How did
you make these?” Typically, it takes the author between 10 and 20 minutes to make a cartoon
from blank sheet of paper to fully processed color image. Attempts to make them on a tablet
directly seemed to stifle creativity since there seems to be more pressure to generate a finished
product right away. Instead, an “old school” approach that begins with a pencil sketch on copier
paper worked better for the author. The initial sketch usually begins with a light touch (so it can
be more easily erased) and avoiding too much detail. This aspect is very important to the
creative process, as the inspiration needs to be captured quickly and too much detail can be
distracting. As previously mentioned, the simplicity of the characters greatly aids getting the
sketch done quickly. When a sketch becomes satisfactory, a fine tip black pen (Prismacolor
Premier 05) is used to trace only the lines worth keeping and after drying all the pencil lines are
erased. A free smartphone scanning app (TurboScanTM by Piksoft) is used to take a black and
white picture of the paper. This app removes much of the gray areas including any pencil marks
that weren’t completely erased, leaving a black and white image which can be emailed as a JPEG
directly from the app. This image is imported into a PowerPoint file where it can be rotated a
little if needed and its size expanded significantly. That PowerPoint file is used to store previous
cartoons as well. The important “trick” in PowerPoint is to use Format>Corrections and select
the preset to adjust the image to “Brightness: +20% Contrast: -20%” (Figure 12). The correction
step in PowerPoint removes the small pixels around the black lines so when using the “fill” tool
in Microsoft Paint, the colors fill nearly all the way to the edges of the lines.

Figure 12: PowerPoint image Corrections.

The image is selected and copied/pasted into Microsoft Paint while also copying/pasting a
previously colored cartoon into the same open Paint file to use the “Color picker” eyedropper
tool to select the same colors as previously used. For instance, the brown and tan of Newtdog’s
pants and jacket are not standard colors, so this process keeps them consistent. Thin lines in
Paint using the pencil tool along with the color to fill a section can be used to enclose regions
that aren’t completely closed, enabling them to be filled with the fill tool. Often there are images
or shapes to incorporate with the cartoon drawing, and these can be resized in PowerPoint and
pasted into the Paint file. Instead of twice drawing Newtdog’s body and the tree in Figure 9, that
part of the drawing was copied and altered by cycling between PowerPoint and Paint to replace
his head and the apple. The resulting image is cropped, saved as a JPEG and a copy placed in
PowerPoint.
The appearance aspect may seem trivial, but a certain degree of “authenticity” of the cartoons
can influence student acceptance. Some students have mistaken these cartoons for standard clip
art which is testimony to the professional look achieved.
Classroom and Course Usage
As previously mentioned, these cartoons can be beneficial in three principal areas: concept
mnemonics, classroom humor and sources for discussion. Methods for implementing them into
the course to try to make them effective in these areas are described here.
Embedded in Course Notes
The author uses printable course notes that are provided to students on the course learning
management system (LMS) and are an optional way for them to take efficient notes. The topic
headings, textbook section numbers, simplified diagrams ready for annotation, blank spaces for
derivations, boxes for important equations to be written (and book equation number), and
example problem statements are provided on these notes. As part of this experiment to
incorporate the cartoons into the courses, they were strategically embedded into the course notes.
Figure 13 shows an example set of course notes for the Fluid Mechanics class that covers
Bernoulli’s equation and where the cartoons presented in Figures 6 and 7 were used.
In many classes, when the logistics of the room and podium computer allow for it, these course
notes are turned into slides, splitting the top and bottom half of each page into one slide apiece.
For classrooms with tablet type monitors, the notes slides are write on directly. The cartoons are
also included as their own slides in larger form which provides an opportunity to briefly
discuss/critique them with the class. The course notes and slides help keep the class organized
and on pace.
 Figure 13: Example of embedded cartoons within course notes.
Featured on White Board Before Class
When a tablet podium was not available and when the classroom is not used in the period before,
some notes and a quick version of the cartoon were written on the whiteboard before class.
Figure14 shows an example on the day Buckingham  and similitude were covered. This same
cartoon also appeared on the LMS front page as discussed next. By giving the students a
preview of an absurd picture on the LMS front page without explanation, the same picture
greeting them when the come to classroom and wait for it to begin, and then revealing the
meaning when class starts, may help to make the connection stick. In this case, “what is
Buckingham  used for?”, the answer being “scaling” or “similitude”. The absurdity of the pun
between “pie” and “” also helps make this connection.

Figure 14: Buckingham  similitude drawn on the white board before class.
LMS Front Page
The Learning Management System (LMS) can be used as the hub of the class, where students
receive announcements, get the homework assignments, download the course notes, see the
homework solutions and check their grades. With the introduction of each new topic, the
students are greeted with the relevant cartoon on the front page. This helps make the characters
sort of mascots for the course. As with the Buckingham  cartoon there can be a bit of mystery
as to the relevance of the cartoon. Letting them in on the joke in a delayed manner can help
make them remember association last longer.
Not all the cartoons were created for pedagogical reasons. Humor can be useful to maintain
good class-teacher report. Just before Thanksgiving Break Figure 15 appeared on the Fluid
Mechanics LMS front page wishing the students an enjoyable break and including the suggestion
“Be sure to tell your folks that the gravy is a non-Newtonian fluid (because of the corn starch in
it)!”.

Figure 15: Thanksgiving and non-Newtonian gravy.

Similarly, before Spring Break Figure 16 appeared the Dynamics course LMS front page with
the message “Have a great Spring Break and be sure to think about Dynamics the entire time...”.
While these messages have no mnemonical value, they are intended to serve a useful purpose.
They send a somewhat subtle message: the students are part of the “engineers club” now which
means they’ll never stop being engineers, even during breaks.
 Figure 16: Spring break in the sun with Dynamics book nearby.
In-class Discussions
As previously mentioned, many of these cartoons were created to help facilitate asking Socratic
questions. It is not uncommon for students to freeze when a question posed by the instructor
seems to be asking them to “read my mind”. An example question in Fluid Mechanics is “why
do you think sound travels faster in water than air?” They’ll commonly answer, “because water
is denser,” but a preferred response is to identify the differences in vapor and liquid stiffnesses
and make a connection to compressibility. By prompting them with hints to the answer with
mention of the c-clamp cartoon (Figure 4), the students can arrive at this conclusion themselves.
Similarly, the cartoon can be the focus of a Socratic question. For instance, the image of
Newtdog with a wheel barrow in Figure 17 can be used to ask about the definition of work as it
relates to what he’s doing. What part of the force and or what distance matters? How does this
relate to the energy of the system? What if there is friction in the wheel barrow bearing?

Figure 17: Newtdog performs work Sisyphus style.

Full disclosure, the author wasn’t entirely pleased with this cartoon as a mnemonic and since the
definition of work isn’t completely apparent alone without explanation. This cartoon is more
valuable as a thought provoking problem and for in-class discussion. This is also an opportunity
for the class to offer suggestions on how to improve the image or make another one that would
better demonstrate the “work is force through a distance” concept intended.
Response
Very limited student feedback was gathered at the end of the Fluid Mechanics course and none
was collected after the Dynamics semester ended. Although an LMS survey was created in the
Fluids course it was initiated after the final exam and the response rate was only three out of 60
students (divided between 4 sections taught by 2 instructors). The students had already
completed the standard end-of-course survey, so it is perhaps understandable when they didn’t
respond to the request to answer another after they were on holiday break. That limited
response is included here because it exists, plus the three students are most likely some of the top
performers as those are students who are typically most conscientious and complete every
assignment.
True/false: The cartoons were worth including in the course. All three replied “true”.
Rate the usefulness of Wetted and Vapes as mnemonic devices. One student selected “Extremely
helpful” and the other two “Somewhat helpful”.
For the remaining open answer questions, the question appears in italics with the response in
quotations below.
Name (briefly describe) the cartoon that helped you the most (or just write N/A if none of them
helped) and why. Response 1: “I enjoyed the streamlines picture the best but think the boundary
layer graphic was the most helpful. It’s a hard choice because the great majority were helpful.”
Response 2: “The boundary layer cartoon was the most helpful because it best showed what a BL
looks like and how it forms.”

Figure 18: Cartoons mentioned in student feedback: Streamlines and Velocity Potential and
Boundary layer formation.
In a brief sentence (or a phrase or word) describe your opinion of the teaching/learning benefits
of using these cartoons in class. “These graphics added humor and a good mental picture of
what we were going to learn about that day kind of preparing you for what was to come. Wetted
and Vapes helped me visualize what was going on in the fluid on a particle level.”
How can these cartoons or the use of them be improved to be more effective as a
teaching/learning tool? “I guess using them more frequently would be best. They are creative
and usually really help students with the lesson to come.”
Ideas for future work are discussed in the conclusions section, but obviously better evaluation of
the benefits of using cartoons for the purpose described here is needed.
Conclusions
This paper presented the author’s experience using original cartoons in engineering classes. It is
difficult to draw conclusions as to the mnemonic effectiveness of these cartoons without data on
student concept retention, but the other benefits of the cartoons such as adding humor to the
classroom, building good teacher-student report and encouraging discussion were easily
observed by the author, who considers the experiment a success. Lessons learned, as in “I wish
I’d done this better” and future work are described below.
Lessons Learned
The author first tried using cartoons in the Fall 2016 Fluid Mechanics class, and this seemed to
work much better than the Spring 2017 Dynamics class. This can be attributed to a few
elements, some within the instructor’s control and others outside.
Firstly, in the author’s opinion, there is a difference in attitude and receptiveness for first
semester Juniors versus second semester Sophomores. The Sophomores taking Dynamics
weren’t nearly as interested in hearing about the cartoons as the Juniors taking Fluid Mechanics
were. Additionally, it became apparent well into the semester that many of the Sophomores
were unaware that their instructor was the one making these cartoons, as some students
expressed surprise upon learning it and said they thought it was just some clip art being pasted
into their notes. This seemed to change their receptiveness. The author apparently didn’t realize
he hadn’t engaged in as much discussion about the cartoons with the Sophomores as he had
when teaching the Juniors the previous semester. Also, the students being fully aware that the
cartoons were actively being made (and just for them) created a more interactive experience.
There was also a difference in the attitude of these particular grouping of students, where the
Juniors were much more receptive to whimsical content than the Sophomores.
Measuring the usefulness of these cartoons was an afterthought, so an important lesson learned
was to plan out a way to evaluate the benefits before the semester ended and the students
dispersed. The end-of-course survey could have been modified to include questions about the
cartoons which would have provided more student feedback data.
The author changed universities in Fall of 2017 and as of the writing of this article is midway
through teaching Dynamics at the new school. Newtdog and Wormy are featured prominently,
and a renewed focus on using the cartoons as catalysts for discussion has led to improved
engagement, especially helpful with a new faculty member. There has been more cartoon
discussion at the introduction of each new topic, and images such as the Polar and Path
coordinate systems in Figure 5 have been alluded to repeatedly as part of answering student
questions, especially the fishing reel and swivel stool in that figure. This reinforcement seems to
have made the cartoons more meaningful.
Future Work
Several ideas have been suggested on how to use these cartoons or measure their effectiveness.
Some of the most interesting involve getting the students involved in their creation and
encouraging them to be creative. A student “suggestion box” discussion board on the LMS
might be useful, so students can submit cartoon ideas or request the instructor draw particular
concepts. Having the students draw their own cartoons as part of a project or for extra credit is
an interesting proposal. Even those with limited artistic skills can draw stick figures with
captions. An interesting potential benefit of this approach is that students will need to pick apart
the concepts they’re trying to convey in much more detail in order to come up a cartoon idea.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the cartoons is challenging and important future work. One
proposal is to evaluate the students a semester or a year after they’ve completed the class. A
survey or short “exam” that presents them with the images and questions what concepts are
represented and what features of them are of conceptual significance. Alternatively, the delayed
survey could be in two parts: first asking four or five relatively simple questions about what they
recall about a Dynamics equation or concept, then a second survey that asks the same questions
with the relevant cartoons next to them. The improvements in the answers (or lack of) can serve
as a measure of whether and how effective the individual cartoons are as mnemonics for
engineering courses to make the concepts stick.

References
[1] L. JT. Landherr, "The production of science comics to improve undergraduate engineering,"
Proceedings, American Society for Engineering Education, 2016.
[2] Kneller, Sir Godfrey (1646-1723), “Sir Isaac Newton (oil on canvas),” [Online]. Available:
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sir-isaac-newton-sir-godfrey-kneller.html. [Accessed: 1-
Mar- 2015].
[3] H. E. Wirth and B. P. Burrt, “Teaching technique through cartoon,” J. Chem. Educ., 1945,
vol. 22 (10), p. 501, Oct 1945.
[4] R. K. Hirst, "Using visual mnemonics to make instructions easier to remember." Journal of
Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 20.4, pp. 411-423, 1990.
[5] B. Keogh and S. Naylor. "Concept cartoons, teaching and learning in science: an evaluation,"
International Journal of Science Education, vol. 21.4, pp. 431-446, 1999.
[6] M. Tatalovic, "Science comics as tools for science education and communication: a brief,
exploratory study," Jcom, vol. 8.4, 2009.
[7] C. Wylie and K. Neeley, "Learning Out Loud (LOL): How Comics Can Develop the
Communication and Critical Thinking Abilities of Engineering Students." Proceedings of the
2016 ASEE Annual Conference. 2016.
[8] F. Kabapinar, "Effectiveness of teaching via concept cartoons from the point of view of
constructivist approach." Colección Digital Eudoxus, vol. 1.5, 2009.
[9] T. Bahrani and R. Soltani. "The pedagogical values of cartoons," Research on Humanities
and Social Sciences, vol. 1.4, pp. 19-22, 2011.
[10] B.D. Jee, and F.K. Anggoro, "Comic cognition: exploring the potential cognitive impacts of
science comics," Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, vol. 11.2, p. 196, 2012.
[11] C.M. Tribull, "Sequential science: A guide to communication through comics." Annals of
the Entomological Society of America, vol. 110.5, pp. 457-466, 2017.
[12] S. McCloud, Understanding comics: The invisible art, Northampton, Mass, 1993.
[13] Gonick, Larry. The cartoon guide to physics. Harper Collins, 1991.
[14] M. Farinella, “Cartoon Science,” 2018. [Online] Available:
http://www.cartoonscience.org/visualization. [Accessed: 20- Jan- 2018].
[15] Explore.tandfonline.com, “Cartoon Abstracts,” 2017. [Online]. Available:
http://explore.tandfonline.com/page/est/cartoon-abstracts . [Accessed: 20- Jan- 2018].
[16] B. Tongue, Dynamics: analysis and design of systems in motion. 2nd Ed., Wiley, 2010.
[17] Schoolhouserock.tv, “Schoolhouse Rock Lyrics,” 2017. [Online]. Available:
http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/Victim.html. [Accessed: 20- Jan- 2018].