“The children look at it and think: Oh, a comic book,” says Linda Thoreson, an 8th grade U.S. history teacher at Benjamin Franklin Middle School.

“But when they begin to get into it, the material is really difficult.”

The “it” to which Thoreson refers is a book called Adventure Tales of America: An Illustrated History of the United States, 1492-1877, written by Prof. Jody Potts, a historian and left-right brain learning specialist at Southern Methodist University.

The tome incorporates left and right brain learning techniques, an approach that has been increasingly used since Dr. Roger Sperry won the Nobel Prize in 1981 for discovering that the left and right side of the brain “think” differently.

Basically, the left side of the brain processes words and the right brain processes pictures. Franklin has used Adventure Tales of America since it was first published. From the exploration of America to the Civil War, students learn scholarly material, but in a fun way.

Not the usual textbook, Adventure Tales of America is laid out in a cartoon format, but with a large amount of scholarly text. The illustrations show historical figures as they tell the story of U.S. history.

Readers see George Washington write letters to his brother John during the American Revolution. They read the notes of James Madison as written during the Constitutional Convention. Simple, illustrated charts explain the three branches of government as they relate to the Constitution and in practice.

“Optimal learning occurs when information is given simultaneously to both sides of the brain,” Dr. Potts says.

“Adventure Tales of America does this with words, analysis and structure for the left brain, along with pictures, humor, emotion and drama for the right brain. The book is a learning tool for visual and verbal learners.”

The use of illustrations with scholarly text takes the learning process beyond memorization to comprehension. Readers don’t receive a dumbed-down version of history, but an intellectually challenging one.

“The kids open the book and don’t feel intimidated,” Thoreson says. “The children who really enjoy it get so much out of it.”

Left right, left right left / Educators have been looking for new ways to help us march from grade to grade for decades. Who could forget it: In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…? The School House Rock generation can most likely still quote the Preamble to the Constitution or sing how a bill becomes a law.

Combining facts with music or images seems to make the learning process easier. How? And why? We now know it’s because both sides of the brain are being used – the reasoning left side and the creative right side.

The best proof of Dr. Potts’ success is that since her book was published in 1993, schools in 40 of the 50 states in the United States have used Adventure Tales of America as a history textbook.

To help students get the most out of Adventure Tales of America, Preston Hollow teachers took one of Dr. Potts courses at SMU. Dr. Potts taught the teachers how to use the book effectively, helping students organize their learning by using both the right and left side of the brain.

Copies of Adventure Tales of America can be found in each U.S. history class at Franklin as a supplemental textbook. The book complements the courses, covering history from America’s pre-colorization to the Civil War. In fact, the book is becoming popular throughout the district.

“Adventure Tales of America can be used for higher academic students, but the lower level child is not turned off either,” Thoreson says.

To round out the lesson, the textbook is accompanied by a workbook and teacher’s guidebook. Lessons also are available on cassette and CD-ROM.

Dr. Potts is working on her next textbook, which will cover the second half of American history. Although she isn’t sure when it will be completed (Volume 1 took four years to finish), she is determined that it will allow every student to receive a “whole” education in the classroom.

“Adventure Tales of America turns the lights on for students,” Dr. Potts says. “It helps them learn faster, remember longer, and score higher on tests.”

As one student says: “This book is so good, I could read it five times a day.”