Michael W.

Henley
MEDT 7490 - Assignment #5

Topic: Graphic Novels

Article 1:
Title:
Information Vaccine: Using Graphic Novels as an HIV/AIDS Prevention Resource for Young
Adults

Source:
Albright, K. S., & Gavigan, K. (2014). Information Vaccine: Using Graphic Novels as an
HIV/AIDS Prevention Resource for Young Adults. Journal Of Education For Library &
Information Science, 55(2), 178-185.

Summary:
This particular study takes place in South Carolina. South Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for
new HIV cases. Because the number of infected young adults is growing at an alarming rate, the
South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice School District felt like they needed to do
something to protect young adults form the dangers of HIV/AIDS. They felt like they could
combat the growing HIV/AIDS crisis by creating an age appropriate, culturally diverse graphic
novel educating young adults. The graphic novel was entitled, AIDS in the End Zone and it
featured two star high school football players who were envious of one another and a girl that
was HIV-positive that was brought in the picture to take away one of the star football players
future. The point of AIDS in the End Zone was to educate young adults on the dangers of
HIV/AIDS and what they can do to avoid being infected by the deadly disease.

Analysis:
Two research questions guided the qualitative study: 1) How does reading a graphic novel about
HIV/AIDS affect adolescents understanding of HIV/AIDS issues? 2) What are the ways in
which adolescents respond to a graphic novel about HIV/AIDS? The study started with book
clubs held for three groups of high school aged students. During the book club interventions, the
three groups of students had to take a pre-survey about HIV/AIDS. Following the survey,
students were given the graphic novel, AIDS in the End Zone and encouraged to read it.
Following completion, they were prompted to take a post-survey assessing their knowledge and
attitudes about HIV/AIDS. In total, the three groups equaled forty participants. Their ages ranged
from fifteen to twenty years old with seventeen being the median age. A vast majority of the
participants were African-American.

Summary of Results:
There were many positive results based on ta comparison of the pre-and post-test survey results.
Following completion of the graphic novel, there was a 25% decrease in the number of young
adults who believed HIV/AIDS was transmitted genetically. The graphic novel taught students
about the erroneous beliefs in a cure. Additionally, the graphic novel taught students that HIV
can be transmitted through breastfeeding, which was something many students didnt know when
the pre-test was administered. When asked about their opinions on the graphic novel, the young
adults believed the story would have better explained the dangers of HIV/AIDS if there were a
homosexual character. Because of the outcome of the study, AIDS in the End Zone was
published in early 2014. Lastly, because of the positive impact of AIDS in the End Zone, there
are future plans to create graphic novels about other social issues because of how quickly graphic
novels can get the point across and make a difference than the average textbook.

Critique & Reflection:

I liked how graphic novels were used for such a sensitive topic such as HIV/AIDS prevention in
young adults. I think kids who read graphic novels about HIV/AIDS prevention are less likely to
put themselves at risk for the deadly disease. When educating a group on such a sensitive topic, it
is imperative that you grasp the groups attention quickly and throughout. I think a graphic novel
will answer a lot of questions that young adults may be scared to ask. Additionally, those same
graphic novels will continue to education especially since theyre in a format that young adults
can appreciate. Working in education, Im somewhat surprised I havent seen or heard about this
HIV/AIDS graphic novel. I did further research on it and actually read it and was quite
impressed with the outcome.

Article 2:
Title:
Empathy and Interpersonal Mentalizing in Ethics Education: An Exercise with Graphic Novels

Source:
Fischbach, S., & Conner, S. L. (2016). Empathy and Interpersonal Mentalizing in Ethics
Education: An Exercise with Graphic Novels. Journal For Advancement Of Marketing
Education, 2488-94.

Summary:
The purpose of this article was to prove that there are other methods to effectively teach ethics
education in the classroom. In most situations, ethics is considered boring and unlikely to grasp
the attention of those who need ethics training, such as the three hundred and twelve marketing
and sales students being surveyed. Graphic novels were incorporated in corporations and
business classrooms to gain the attention of their employees and students and to provide practical
training. Students are more likely to pay attention to material based on how it is presented; ethics
education would be more interesting if it was taught using graphic novels instead of a regular
textbook.

Analysis:
The research took place by using a multivariate analysis of variance, or MANOVA for short. A
MANOVA is an ANOVA with multiple dependent variables. Data was collected across
universities and borders to assess how effective graphic novels were as a tool for training ethical
effectiveness. In all, three hundred and twelve students enrolled in upper-level undergraduate
business courses were surveyed. The students were enrolled in three campuses in the United
States and the United Arab Emirates. The three hundred and twelve students were purposely
chosen since researched showed there was an obvious cultural difference between American and
Arab cultures. The students were surveyed in an attempt to assess their level of empathy and
interpersonal mentalizing.

Summary of Results:
The study proved that applying graphic novels could increase the students ability to empathize
and build interpersonal mentalizing. The study showed that graphic novels held participants
attention in a unique way while still effectively providing the appropriate training for empathy
and interpersonal mentalizing for the sake of ethics education. Some students felt like graphic
novels werent a good idea for addressing sensitive topics.

Critique & Reflection:

Whenever I think of graphic novels, I usually think of the elementary school classroom. It is rare
that you see graphics included in anything as you get older. It seems that as we get older the text
we read is less likely to include graphics even though theyre beneficial for understanding some
topics being shared or taught via text. Personally, I struggle to remember what I read. However,
when graphics are used I can remember and comprehend what Im reading/studying. It was
interesting to see the professors utilize graphic novels in an upper-level college classroom to
explain such a sensitive topic such as ethics. Before reading this empirical study, I never thought
about graphic novels being such a good teacher for something such as ethics. Now that I read the
study, it makes perfect sense. Graphic novels are something I am considering incorporating in
my workplace training curriculum based on how effective they were with the sales and
marketing students surveyed for this study.

Article 3:
Title:
Arent These Boy Books?: High School Students Readings of Gender in Graphic Novels

Source:
Moeller, R. A. (2011). "Aren't These Boy Books?": High School Students' Readings of Gender in
Graphic Novels. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(7), 476-484.

Summary:
Graphic novels are often related to comics. Stereotypically speaking, boys are more likely to read
graphic novels than girls. This particular study was created based on girls responses to being
encouraged to read graphic novels. The girls would always say, Those are boy books. The
researcher questioned how much of an impact graphic novels had in the classroom since they
only seem to appeal to one particular sex (male).

Analysis:
The study took place in a predominately white Midwestern public high school. Fifteen high
school students, which included eight females and 7 males, voluntarily agreed to participate in
the study after speaking with the schools library media specialist and three teachers. Students
were asked to read three randomly selected graphic novels. After the novels were completed,
students were required to participate in focus group interviews divided by sex. The interviews
were transcribed so they could be analyzed using a theory approach to coding in two stages.

Summary of Results:
The study found that graphic novel reading is enjoyed and valued to differing degrees by the
students interviewed. Additionally, the study found that both male and female students struggled
with a double consciousness to find a balance between engaging in nerd culture and defining
themselves as a nerd. The students dubbed graphic novels as fake books. The male students liked
the idea of reading graphic novels and were interested in reading others. The female students
werent as interested in graphic novels as the boys but that did show interest in the graphic
novels chosen at random for the student. The study found that inclusion of graphic novels in the
classroom would balance reading interests in both boys and girls. The sample of graphic novels
that were chosen proved that more diverse readers that recent research assumed.

Critique & Reflection:

The sociologist in me enjoyed reading about male vs. female stereotypes. You hear about
stereotypes and see them on a daily basis but it is rare to see them as they relate to reading. Yes,
youre more likely to see girls reading but as we saw in this study, boys do read but theyre more
likely to read graphic novels. I think graphic novels would be of interest to girls, too, if they were
about something a girl could relate to. After all, most boys and girls do not relate to the same
things. I was interested in how the study took place but I wish the participants were more diverse
so you could draw more conclusions from the data.