EFFECTS OF MULTIMEDIA-BASED GRAPHIC NOVEL PRESENTATION ON CRITICAL THINKING AMONG STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT LEARNING APPROACHES

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of graphic novels on the critical thinking skills in history learning among 291 Secondary Two students in three secondary schools in Malaysia.  This research consisted of two parts, namely, development and evaluation. In the first part, the multimedia learning material entitled ‘Japanese Occupation of Malaya 1942-1945’ was designed and developed. In the second part of this research, this study investigated the critical thinking effects of three multimedia graphic novel instructional modes on students of different learning approaches – deep and surface. This study utilized the quantitative method to gather information. ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses were conducted to test the five hypotheses in this study. The results showed that students who were exposed to the Graphic novel and Narration (GN) mode performed significantly better than their counterparts in the Graphic novel and Text (GT) mode and the Graphic novel, Text and Narration (GTN) mode. Both the surface-approach students and the deep-approach students who were exposed to the GN mode performed significantly better than those in the GT mode and the GTN mode. It was also found that the GN mode provides equivalent benefits to both surface-approach and deep-approach students. The interaction effects between the students’ learning approach and the three learning modes related to the posttest scores were not significant. The conclusion of this study is supportive of the positive value of the GN mode multimedia graphic novel learning environment based on Mandell and Malone’s Thinking like a Historian (TLH) model to enhance and facilitate students’ critical thinking skills toward history learning.