More News

Even someone who cannot draw a straight line can sketch an oversized-eared, wrinkled-faced caricature of President George W. Bush, a political cartoonist told Wheaton High School social studies students last week.

And doing it just might make learning about the former Republican president and his policies more interesting, said Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher, an internationally syndicated editorial cartoonist who has drawn cartoons for publications such as The Economist and The Sun in Baltimore.

"I don't think ears can ever be too big," he told the students, who were vigilantly following his strokes on the electronic Promethean board with their own pencils and paper.

Kallaugher visited Wheaton Friday to launch a project he's working on as an artist-in-residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County — a Web site of political cartoons, digital animation and succinct, humorous blogs about the daily news produced by Kallaugher and UMBC students.

The site (www.usdemocrazy.net) is targeted to high school students and Kallaugher wanted to test it for the first time on Wheaton's social studies classes. Students can post comments and reaction as they read about current events.

To get students to read it, all content on the site will be in the spirit of political cartoons — "funny, fun, short, digestible." Kallaugher said.

The multimedia interaction came at a perfect time. He and Wheaton's social studies head, David Shaffner, are banking on the site to attract students to a subject Shaffner said they often tune out.

Schools across the country are wondering if social studies has become obsolete, as subjects such as science and technology become trendier, Shaffner said.

That's because those subjects naturally lend themselves to the plugged-in, visual lives students already lead, he said.

"The typical classroom may not be enough to un-block those brainwaves," Shaffner said.

Which is why Wheaton High is making a multimedia push in all of its fields, Michael Hunt, coordinator of the school's four academies, said.

Wheaton's academies offers four career pathways for students to choose from in biosciences and health, engineering, information technology and global studies. Many of the academies require special courses, but all students must take social studies.

The school is spending its precious pennies on a new Macintosh lab for a digital music composition class, electronic Promethean white boards and an environmental student-based Web site, he said.

"We have to teach them to their strengths," Hunt said. "If we continue to teach in the old method, we're going to lose them."

Kallaugher said that's right up his alley.

"My mission in life is to take serious stuff like politics and make it fun," Kallaugher told the students last week.

Kallaugher said that's right up his alley.

"Shaffner plans to use the Web site in his social studies classes to supplement daily curriculum. If successful among Wheaton students, Kallaugher said it could spread to high schools across Maryland.

And if the Web site is anything like Kallaugher's energy in the classroom, it could make social studies more entertaining, students said Friday.

Well, for a guy who follows elections and nuclear proliferation for a living, he's actually pretty cool, said a group of sophomore girls clutching their Bush caricatures after class.

The girls, who admitted to being into the social networking Web site MySpace, said they might be more interested in learning about government from a blog than a book.

"I'm very interested in politics, but I'll be the first to admit it can get boring," said sophomore Shannon Ginn.

The trick is going to be balancing flashy electronic lessons with state- and federally-mandated curriculum, which does not include blogging as one of its requirements, Shaffner said.

"It's a good idea," he said of the Web site. "We're running with the ball to see how far we can go."

Check out political cartoonist Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher's daily political Web site developed by University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus, students and targeted for high school students at www.usdemocrazy.net.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus.