Education
School Management
Innovation
August 28, 2025
Drawing is thinking: the image in critical learning
The power of graphic narratives as pedagogical tools in contemporary school
In an era marked by information overload and the visual appeal of social media, the school still relies, for the most part, on linear texts and objective assessments. However, a pedagogy that is possible — and increasingly urgent — recognizes drawing not as mere illustration of thought, but as a form of thinking itself. More than memorizing content, students need to construct meaning. And few tools prove as effective in this process as the creation of graphic narratives, such as comic strips.
Experiences in the field of art education reveal that students often considered “inattentive” or “uninterested” find, in drawing, fertile territory for expressing complex ideas, proposing creative solutions, and formulating strong social critiques. When drawing a story, these students choose frames, distribute dialogue, imagine gestures, and construct scenarios — in short, they make narrative decisions, ethical and political ones. Drawing, in this context, is not just representing: it is acting upon the world.
Comic strips, by their sequential nature, operate with multiple languages — textual, visual, symbolic, and spatial — and demand planning, synthesis, and articulation of diverse cognitive skills. Furthermore, they allow for addressing curricular content in a transversal manner: a sequence on human rights can be converted into a visual script; a lesson on the environment can culminate in the creation of an ecological superhero; history workshops can reconstruct indigenous or Afro-Brazilian narratives in visual strips.
The pedagogical use of comics reveals their potential to activate the creativity of children, adolescents, and young people. With pencil and paper, it is possible to visit distant galaxies, explore the structure of the atom, get to know the interior of the human body, take journeys to the four corners of the world, meet historical figures again, or imagine a world where dinosaurs walk among us again.
Emotional Universe
The role of comics in accessing the emotional universe of students also stands out. Creating characters inspired by familiar figures — parents, siblings, grandparents — or portraying everyday situations expands the expressive dimension of the formative process. Graphic narratives offer a space of freedom, in which the student constructs their own version of the world and recognizes themselves as the protagonist.
Drawing can be understood as a gesture of belonging — and also of rupture. By recording their experiences, doubts, and worldviews on paper, the student finds a way to express what they often cannot verbalize. Drawing, in this context, becomes an instrument of freedom, essential for meaningful learning.
This process of assigning meaning to lived experiences through the creation of imagery is supported by the theory of psychologist Lev Vygotsky. In “Imagination and creativity in childhood,” the author understands imagination as a higher psychological function, linked to the ability to rework experiences. He states: “Imagination is, in essence, a creative function of consciousness, based on lived and reworked experiences. […] The child who plays house or draws a castle is, in fact, training their thinking, learning to transform the world into an idea” (Vygotsky, 2009).
In the introduction of the work, it reads: “Lev Vygotsky presents inspiring lines […] with the use of examples of expressive modalities that children appreciate: drama, drawing, reading, and creative writing. All these modes of expression, which the child elaborates in their development, and the school promotes, enhance higher psychological functions and have a natural significance in the child’s education” (Vygotsky, 2009).
It is revealing to note that the four elements cited by Vygotsky — drama, drawing, reading, and creative writing — are integrated into the structure of comic strips. Creating a comic strip is dramatizing, drawing, reading, and writing. It is an exercise in subjectivity and, at the same time, in the development of complex cognitive functions.
Among the advantages of this language, the accessibility of materials also stands out: paper, pencil, eraser, sharpener, ruler, and ink are simple, yet powerful tools. The pencil that makes the student the author of their own work is also an instrument of autonomy: it makes them confident, fulfilled, independent, unique, integrated, active, and participative in their social environment.
It is not about replacing written text with images, but about recognizing visual thinking as a legitimate part of the learning process — a process that, incidentally, began with images. Before letters, there were cuneiform signs, hieroglyphs, pictograms. Humanity learned to write by drawing. To this end, it is essential that the educator:
- Value the process: more than judging the whim of the stroke, it is necessary to listen to what it communicates;
- Integrate the areas: working with comics is not an exclusive task for art class: it can cross geography, history, science, mathematics;
- Respect aesthetics: traits influenced by manga, cartoons, and memes are legitimate visual repertoires;
- Provide time and listening: creating a comic book requires dedication. And, once completed, it deserves to be read with attention and debated in a group;
- Seek a solid training on the language of comics: one that goes beyond simplistic manuals and deepens its possibilities as a conscious and creative pedagogical tool.
Promoting a more critical, creative, and inclusive education requires the review of the languages with which we teach and learn. Visual narratives, when recognized as language and well-guided, favor not only cognitive development but also the sensitive, the political, and the aesthetic. After all, thinking with images is also imagining — and building — other possible worlds.
Who wrote this column
Roberto Munhoz
