An Inquiry Based Approach for Using Comic Based Stories to Teach Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

by Adam P. Zoeller (Editor), Thomas E. Malewitz (Editor)

Overview

This book illustrates the belief that film can serve as a powerful tool in the social studies classroom and, where appropriately utilized, foster critical thinking and civic mindedness. The NCSS College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) framework represents a renewed and formalized emphasis on the perennial social studies goals of deep thinking, reading, and writing.

An Inquiry Based Approach for Using Comic Based Stories to Teach Liberal Arts and Social Sciences offers a collection of classroom—ready tools based on the Hollywood or History? strategy and is designed to foster inquiry through the careful use of selected motion pictures and television productions. The book seeks to overcome the many challenges that accompany classroom applications of Hollywood motion pictures. It recognizes that — despite teaching and learning through Hollywood, or commercial, film and television productions being anything but a new approach — purposeful and effective instruction through film is not problem—free.

In response to the problems and possibilities associated with teaching through film, An Inquiry Based Approach for Using Comic Based Stories to Teach Liberal Arts and Social Sciences develops a collection of practical, classroom—ready lesson ideas that might bridge gaps between theory and practice and assist teachers endeavoring to make effective use of film in their classrooms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781805920359
Publisher:	Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication date:	11/19/2025
Series:	Hollywood or History?
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Adam P. Zoeller is a secondary school theology teacher with over twenty years’ experience teaching Scripture, Social Justice, and World Religions.

Thomas E. Malewitz is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Ed.D.: Leadership Program in the College of Education at Spalding University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Historical Parallels
1a. Understanding Total Warfare and the Role of Propaganda in World War II; Alexander J. Glaser
1b. Was Magneto Right? An Analysis of the Holocaust through the Eyes of a Survivor; Eric C. Street
1c. V is for Vendetta and Protest as a Path to Change; Emily Campbell
1d. Through the Eyes of a Child: Secret Path and Experiences of Residential Schools; Thomas E. Malewitz
Chapter 2. Empowering Voices
2a. Afrofuturism and the Nation of Wakanda; Adam P. Zoeller
2b. Tulsa Race Massacre: All Too Reel or Real?; Jeffrey M. Hawkins
2c. Ms. Marvel and the Makings of a Superhero; Ariel Cornett, Delandrea Hall, and Colleen Fitzpatrick
2d. Paper Girls: Teaching through an Anti—Nostalgic Lens; Alexandra Lindner
2e. A Youth Feminist Perspective on Death and Dying: Barb Thorson and Killing Giants; Liz Shanks, and Mark A. Lewis
Chapter 3. Religious and Theological Implications
3a. Kairos, Kant, and Kent in Man of Steel; Adam P. Zoeller
3b. The Fall and Redemption of Thor Odinson; Arthur L. Turner
3c. Lost Paradises: The Silver Surfer as Shining Counterpoint to John Milton’s Satan; Daniel E. Martin
3d. Medical Research Ethics and Laudato Sí: Exploring the Culture of Sweet Tooth; Thomas E. Malewitz
Chapter 4. Psychology 
4a. Stages of Grief in WandaVision; Adam P. Zoeller
4b. The Killing Joke: Bullying and Unresolved Trauma in The Joker; Thomas E. Malewitz
4c. Multiple Personalities/Personas in Moon Knight; Adam P. Zoeller
4d. Envy, the Enemy of Wonder: Revisiting the Roots of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984;Thomas E. Malewitz
Chapter 5. Science and Beyond
5a. Technology: Hero or villain? FOMO and Mindful Technology Usage; Sarah Beach
5b. Science and Ethics of The Incredible Hulk ; Christopher Willman
5c. Exploring the Many—Worlds Theory through the Marvel Films Spider—Man Story Arc: Spider—verse; Joseph Claypoole