Science explodes into life for primary children with new comics

An exciting new digital comic called, Selenia, could just be the reward your children need this summer and best of all, this educational comic stimulates both reading and learning about science.

The comic is designed to appeal to 8 – 11 year olds and build their understanding of scientific processes. The website (www.sciencecomics.uwe.ac.uk) includes quizzes, sudoku, spot the difference and word search games, all designed to both fun and educational. Even better, the comics and resources are all free.

In the stories Selenia, the schoolgirl heroine, travels from her alien planet to Earth where she soon discovers that she is invisible. This gives her plenty of opportunities to play tricks on people as she explores our planet. Along the way, she makes new friends, travels back in time to visit Humphrey Davy, a famous scientist, and learns a lot about the properties of materials, such as the differences between gases, solids and liquids.

Author Dr Emma Weitkamp, says, “The stories are full of action, magic and fun and are designed to give children the opportunity to explore science in unconventional ways. The main character, Selenia has magical powers and can control the scientific properties of materials. This encourages the reader to think about the implications, for example, of changing a football field into an ice rink where all the players slide and fall down.”

Another key success for the project was securing Dave Smith as the illustrator. With previous experience of illustrating science comics, Dave ensured that the quality of the final illustrations is top notch and that the comics themselves are easy to read.

Over 300 children have been involved in the development of the comic and resources. Many of the storylines were developed from children’s suggestions, such as a visit to the dinosaur era. As Helen Featherstone, who developed the interactive games, says, “children love the stories, especially the bright illustrations, the styling and the words. They like the fact that Selenia is independent, a bit naughty, and that she can make her own decisions.”

The project was developed in partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The comic can be downloaded from: www.sciencecomics.uwe.ac.uk