Social justice, critical literacy, and young children: Peer conversations and teacher facilitation through literature
Abstract
This study examined preschool children and their understandings about topics of social justice. It investigated whether children were able to analytically look at the social and political issues that occurred in their lives and then act to affect positive change. Specifically, this qualitative study identified sociopolitical issues that were relevant to young children. This study was structured into four phases; (a) videotaping and transcribing children's conversations during dramatic play center time, (b) thematic analysis of transcripts examining social justice issues raised by children during play center time, (c) a week-long literary intervention on one issue that emerged during the play center conversations and (d) the focused analysis of the subsequent conversation videotaped during the class read-alouds and dramatic play times. Data were analyzed and compared to see if any changes in conversations occurred pre and post intervention. It was found that children do think about sociopolitical issues, those issues do emerge in their authentic play, and through quality children's literature and teacher-directed discussions, children's behaviors and conversations can be changed.
Subject Area
Early childhood education|Curriculum development|Literature
Recommended Citation
Huber, Lynn, "Social justice, critical literacy, and young children: Peer conversations and teacher facilitation through literature" (2009). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3373826.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3373826
