Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Administrative and Instructional Leadership

First Advisor

Joan Birringer-Haig

Second Advisor

CECEILIA PARNTHER

Third Advisor

BARBARA PELTZMAN

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study was to evaluate the gender stereotyping in picture books from a classroom library collection that primary school students use for independent reading in the classroom. Using the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade fiction books from the classroom library collection from Booksource, this research included 151 books from an original total collection of 900 books of which 491 books were considered fiction. A revised coding sheet, originally from Hamilton et al. (2006), was used to code the books. Seven volunteers and the researcher coded each book with 17 books coded three times. Volunteers were provided with a link to a video, a PowerPoint slide show on coding and a cheat sheet with highlights for coding. They were given a month to code their books and access via email or phone to ask any questions. Using descriptive statistics, two-way between-subjects ANOVA, independent samples t-test and binomial logistic regression, a surprising/unique finding is that there was no significant difference between main character gender and main character age in children’s picture books. In addition, there was no significant difference with the written dialog of the male and female authors with relation to main character gender, behavior, and use of toys but there was a significant difference as male illustrators opposed to female illustrators influenced main character gender, behavior, and use of toys in the children’s picture books.

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