Comic curriculum: Educator uses 'Dr. Birdley' to teach science

By Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on July 27, 2007

Remember when reading comics in class would get you in trouble? "Dr. Birdley" may change all that.

Birdley is the creation of Amherst author, illustrator and teacher Nevin Katz, who has designed a series of science books featuring Birdley, a tall, bespectacled, lab-coat-wearing bird. Birdley introduces and explains scientific concepts, like parts of the atom and physics, in an accessible and entertaining way.

The books feature Birdley and a well-stocked cast of characters including his wife, Clarissa, his son, Baby Birdley, his lab assistant, Gina, the skeptical Dean Owelle and Jaykes, who Katz describes as a computer programmer/jazz musician who's kind of a cool understated version of Birdley.

Katz, who teaches physical and environmental science at Ludlow High School, said that he considers himself both a cartoonist and curriculum developer.

"They're equally prominent in my life," he said.

Katz presented a workshop last weekend at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received his master's degree in 2000, on using "sequential art," in other words, "comics," to teach science.

Katz also created a series of comics to instruct students to use and work with the Lego Mindstorms robotics kit and software at the Summer CSI program at Hampshire College, where Holyoke middle school students learned about robotics and forensic techniques.

Katz said that he'd been drawing informally since he was about 2 years old and began taking art and drawing classes when he was in high school and began doing some freelance art work then.

Katz said he began drawing the Birdley character using pen and ink techniques and Microsoft Word for the text. Katz said he originally named the character "Dr. Byrd," but felt the name wasn't quite unique enough.

"(Birdley) draws elements from my own personality as far as the enthusiasm for science," Katz said. "He's kind of a quirky, didactic character who gets into impractical situations."

Katz said that a lot of Birdley's physicality is drawn from observations of people around him.

In 2002, Katz began taking lessons from Leverett writer and artist Lahri Bond, who helped him refine the design of the character, taught him some more advanced drawing and scanning techniques and assisted him with the copywriting process.

Katz never considered himself a "comic book kid" growing up but said he did watch a lot of animation and read the popular comic strips of the day like "Peanuts" and "Garfield."

"I paid a lot of attention to cartoons and how the characters moved," he said.

Katz also wrote and submitted a script for the Disney animated series "Tailspin." But by the time the script was received, the production company had ceased creating new episodes, although it gave Katz a lot of positive feedback on the work he had done.

"That was kind of a defining moment," he said.

Katz uses the Birdley books and lesson plans he's created in the classroom. There students not only tend to absorb the material more easily because of the user-friendly presentation, but often its sparks their own creativity as well and they'll sometimes create their own Birdley comics or, in the case of one student, their own Birdley-inspired music.

The visual medium also allows students of different reading abilities the ability to absorb the material at the same speed.

"They can pair the words with the images and see how different images are related," he said.

Rethinking ways to present scientific material is beneficial for the teachers as well, Katz said.

"Any teacher can get into their own box," he said. Katz said that the material in the books still adheres to national standards, leaving teachers in a "safe zone" even when using the Birdley lesson plans.

With six books done and more on the way, Katz hopes to develop enough to provide the core of a complete curriculum for science courses.

He said he's also spoken to people that might be interested in translating the scientific lessons and quirky characters into some manner of animated educational programming.

"I do think the world of Dr. Birdley can only be explored so much as a comic strip," Katz said. "Fortunately a lot of the comics can double as story boards."

The "Dr. Birdley Teaches Science" books are available locally or through the publisher's Web site, incentivepublications.com.

Internet retailer Amazon.com carries the series, but is currently out of stock and plans are also in the works to make the series available through Barnes and Noble bookstores.