Inspiring Non-Science Students in STEM Courses: The Illustrated Novel Project

Abstract: This is a conference paper for the Education Division's 2011 ASQ Advancing the STEM Agenda in Education, the Workplace and Society Conference. This paper is authored by Maleka Hashmi and Jennifer Grant of the University of Wisconsin-Stout and Deanna Suilmann of Menomonie High School.

The authors' abstract is presented here: General education courses in science can be challenging to teach. The first reason for this is that many students do not relate to the material. The second reason is that students simply fear “doing science”. To overcome both of these obstacles and help students fully engage in STEM related disciplines, we have designed an “Illustrated Novel” project. This project requires each student to create a 15-20 page illustrated novel focusing on a topic within human biology. Initial results show that students find the project beneficial, both in helping to increase their personal interest in biology and as an effective studying tool.

Keywords: STEM - Student Retention - Teaching Quality - Conference Proceedings