Text-Based vs. Graphic Novels: SSR Programs and their Effect on High School Students’ Creativity Scores

Creative thinking skills are among the chief abilities high school students need to find success in their studies, especially in humanities-based disciplines. A common avenue of exposure to such skills is through the written word, however, reading habits within high school students have been experiencing a downward trend. In this study, a mixed-method quasi-experimental research design was utilized to study the effects of a regular reading habit, stimulated using a Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) program, on high school students’ creativity test scores. Over the course of six weeks, 17 high school students met for 17 15-minute SSR sessions; participants read either graphic novels or text-based novels. To gauge a change in creative thinking skills, participants were tested using modified versions of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) before and after the SSR program. Score changes were then analyzed based on genres read and whether participants read graphic novels or text-based novels. On average, participants who participated in a text-based SSR program experienced a 7.611 score increase, while the graphic novel readers experienced minimal change. Furthermore, participants who read science fiction/dystopian and action/adventure material saw the greatest increase in TTCT scores. Though the sample size was relatively small, the results attested to the benefits regular reading habits—specifically using text-based reading material–can have on teenagers’ thinking skills.