Investigating the transfer of scientific content with the help of comic stories at a level of higher education

A story is a narrative that has a long history of conveying concepts. In addition, the image makes the content more memorable. The combination of story and image forms the comic story. The use of comic stories in education may enhance the attractiveness and durability of the transmission of scientific concepts. It requires special conditions to apply this kind of story at a high educational level. These conditions include the qualitative conditions and the place of use of the comic story. Appropriate scientific content, outward attractiveness, and proper characterization are essential points in designing scientifically comic stories. In addition, the strengths, weaknesses, and position of using comic fiction are essential factors in the effectiveness of comic stories. In this paper, field study and analysis of public feedback are used to determine the framework for using comic narratives at the higher education level. For this purpose, a scientific comic story is designed based on the project of simulating the power of a hybrid car in MATLAB. The scientific comic story is formed through PowerPoint software. The Comic story is presented in an undergraduate classroom in mechanical engineering. Then the students' feedback on the story is recorded. Students find that this method is effective and appropriate for presenting, teaching, and publishing in educational journals. Additionally, the diversity of content is one of the strengths of this method. Lack of focus on detail is also one of the weaknesses of this method. Based on the feedback received, this method makes the audience attracted to continue the content. It also raises questions in students' minds. For these reasons, it is suggested that this method be used more in pre-study.