IEEE VIS 2024 Content: The Comic Construction Kit: An Activity for Students to Learn and Explain Data Visualizations

Honorable Mention

The Comic Construction Kit: An Activity for Students to Learn and Explain Data Visualizations

Magdalena Boucher - St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, St. Pölten, Austria

Christina Stoiber - St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences, St. Poelten, Austria

Mandy Keck - School of Informatics, Communications and Media, Hagenberg im Mühlkreis, Austria

Victor Adriel de Jesus Oliveira - St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences, St. Poelten, Austria

Wolfgang Aigner - St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences, St. Poelten, Austria

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Room: Bayshore VI

2024-10-17T17:03:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2024-10-17T17:03:00Z
Exemplar figure, described by caption below
A preview of some customizeable character stickers and pre-printed visualizations from our comic construction kit, with a comic example by a student.
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Keywords

data comics, storytelling, visualization education, visualization literacy, visualization activities

Abstract

As visualization literacy and its implications gain prominence, we need effective methods to prepare students for the variety of visualizations in an increasingly data-driven world. Recently, the potential of comics has been recognized in various data visualization contexts, including educational settings. We describe the development of a workshop in which we use our ``comic construction kit'' as a tool for students to understand various data visualization techniques through an interactive creative approach of creating explanatory comics. We report on our insights from holding eight workshops with high school students and teachers, university students, and lecturers, aiming to enhance the landscape of hands-on visualization activities that can enrich the visualization classroom. The comic construction kit and all supplemental materials are open source under a CC-BY license and available at https://fhstp.github.io/comixplain/vis4schools.html.