University of Arizona chemistry instructor Colleen Kelley is confronting the inequities she sees in STEM education with a series of comic books that address the fundamentals of chemistry and position it as a field open to everyone, according to an article from KTAR News. Throughout her 25-year career, Kelley reportedly has witnessed the apprehension students feel about learning organic chemistry and how underperformance in required chemistry courses contributes to the attrition rate in STEM, particularly for underrepresented students.
Kelley’s idea for her 10-book series, aimed at elementary school students, is called “M.C. Detective Agency: Chemical Solutions Required” and features characters who embody different chemical elements. Kelley, who has so far funded the first book on her own, is searching for additional funding and a publisher. She hopes to eventually turn her ideas into an animated series along the lines of the 1990s television show “Magic School Bus.”
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