Paris Gamble, a father of two with an engineering and science background has created a Kickstarter Campaign for a comic book called “David, Software Engineer”. The goals is to get kids excited about STEM careers, and have them thinking about the steps necessary to be successful in these fields. Paris’s ultimate goal is to create an entire series of STEM Career Comic Books. Possibilities for future issues include an aerospace engineer, an architect, a cellular biologist, a marine scientist, and a nuclear engineer. Along with the actual comic book, Paris has also created guides for students, parents, and teachers. He thinks the comic books would make great learning and guidance tools within classrooms as well as at home. The guides will provide guided discussions, discussion questions, graphic organizers, and post-reading activities. Personally, think that the biggest challenge will be creating an entertaining, age appropriate comic book that teenagers will actually want to read. Of course, a comic book of any kind might be more engaging than a dry pamphlet or informational website, but if kids find the material corny or unrelatable, then they’ll probably toss it aside without another thought. However, if the stories are funny, topical, and inspiring, I can see this being a worthwhile endeavor.
