In Sweden exist a Swedish institute for children’s book which is a national information center. They have an annual "Book tasting" where they present statistics and trends from the latest publications of literature for youth and children. In their “book tasting’’ from 2010 a number of picture books had, as they say, children who descend from non-Swedish culture (Swedish institute for children’s book, 2010).  The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the ethnical diversity describes in these picture books from 2010. To understand how the ethnical diversity describes in these books I had two questions which helped me in my research. The questions were: Do these picture books have some features which are ethnic stereotype? Do the ethnical diversity in the picture books describes as multi-cultural or intercultural condition? The thesis is based upon a qualitative text analysis and from this main group did I choose discourse analytical approach to analyze my picture books. My working model is inspired by associate professor Pil Dahlerup and professor Maria Nikolajeva. In the theoretical framework do I assume from PhD student Hassan Sharif (2008) who separate the term multi-cultural from the intercultural term. He says that the multi-cultural term can sees as descriptive, which means that the multi-cultural term work as a description of the society’s condition while the intercultural term sees like a process where all cultures in the society gives space to interact and cooperate with each other on equal terms. My first conclusion is that several of the picture books describe ethnical diversity stereotyped. An example is the stereotype of the dark man as black and with black curly hair. Another example is the stereotype of people with darker skin color as happy and affective. One picture book didn’t have stereotype persons or characteristics. My second conclusion is that only one picture book did describe the ethnical diversity as an intercultural condition. The other picture books describe the ethnical diversity as a descriptive multi-cultural condition.

Syftet med denna studie är att undesöka vilket matematiskt innehåll förskollärare synliggör vid användning av bilderboken Lilla nollan och dom andra. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har både observationer och kvalitativa intervjuer använts. Två förskollärare från en förskola valdes ut. Barnen som deltog vid observationerna var 4-5 år gamla. Resultatet visar att förskollärarna synliggör ett brett matematiskt innehåll i den ovannämnda bilderboken. De fokuserar på siffror, räkneramsan, räknar antal och jämför form och storlek. Samtal om siffran 0 och dess betydelse förs med barnen. De reflekterar och resonerar tillsammans med barnen över olika matematiska företeelser som de möter i bilderboken med stöd av dess bilder. Förskollärarna ger också flera exempel på hur barnen har utvecklat matematiska begrepp. De tar även tillvara på den mångfald och den variation av matematik som bilderboken erbjuder. / The purpose of this study is to investigate which mathematical contents preeschool teachers visible when using the picture book Little O and all the others. In order to answer the study questions, both observations and qualitative interviews have been used. Two preeschool teachers from one preeschool were selected. The children who participated in the observations were  4-5 years old. The results show that preeschool teachers reveal a broad mathematical content in the above mentioned picture book. They focus on numbers, countingchants, counting numbers and compare the shape and size. Conversations about the number 0 and the importance of it takes place. They reflect and resonate with the children of different mathematical phenomena they encounter in the picture book by virtue of its images. Preeschool teachers also give several examples of how the children have developed mathematical concepts. They also utilize both the diversity and the variety of mathematics that the picture book offers.

This study was to explore the effects of the social skill training programs integrating with picture books for the 2nd grade students¡¦ social skills of immediate and sustainable impact. Specific recommendations for the findings were provided for future research and implementation of social skills training. The study used the nonequivalent quasi-experimental designs and took two different classes of 2nd grade in a medium-sized elementary school in Pingtung County. There were 25 subjects in experimental group, and 26 subjects in control group; theformer were practiced for eight weeks with eight units of social skill training programs integrating with picture books and the latter were practiced with general a general integrated curriculum. Using the scale of Children Social Skills to collect data during the pretest, posttest and follow-up posttest, and then, all data were dealt with by the analysis of one-way ANCOVA. Furthermore, the qualitative data of Session Feedback Form, worksheet, teachers¡¦ observation were also anlayzed. The study found social skill training programs integrating with picture books has both immediate and incessant guidance effect on promoting experimental group children¡¦ whole social skills, and subscales of cooperative, positive assertive as well as negative assertive skills. While, promoting the subscales of empathy and self-control skills only found immediate guidance effect with no incessant guidance effect. The qualitative anlaysis found the experimental group has positive attitude on social skill training programs integrating with picture books.

The study uses the nonequivalent quasi-experiment designs to explore the effects of integrating experiential learning into life education through picture books for third grade elementary students¡¦ life attitude instant and continuous influences. Samples were taken from two classes of third grade elementary students in Kaohsiung County. Twenty students in the class one as experimental group, nineteen students in the class two as control group. The duration of the course took two hours a week until ten weeks in the field of ¡§Integrative Activities Learning Area.¡¨ The experimental group uses the method of integrating experiential learning while the control group uses the traditional teaching method. The elementary school students¡¦ life attitude evaluation scale is based on ANCOVA (on-way Analysis of Covariance). The research also adopted qualitative research method, which includes worksheet, students¡¦ session feedback forms and teacher¡¦s examination. The result showed significant differences between two groups as follows: 1. Students in experimental group were more interested in experiencing activities, which could improve their learning motivation. 2. The thesis is based on the experiential learning cycle designed by Kolb(1984) and the guidance of the discussion by Henton(1996). Integrating experiential learning into life education through picture books and a direct participation in the events of life have greater effect on third grade students. Further, Reflective Observation was the important phase of students¡¦ learning processes; the teacher must pay more attention to this area for students to develop their own ability of self-reflection. 3. The experimental group showed instant influences on ¡§Self Acceptance¡¨ and ¡§Emotion Management¡¨ in the life attitude evaluation scale. 4. The experimental group showed continuous influences on ¡§life attitude¡¨ and ¡§cooperation among classmates¡¨ in the life attitude evaluation scale. 5. The study has a conclusion indicated that the integrating experiential learning into life education through picture books encourages students to explore the meaning and value of their life. 6. Teachers could have better comprehension of children¡¦s motivation and improve personal growth during the course. Based on findings, several constructive suggestions were proposed for schools and further research

The aim of this study is to investigate the changes in problem-solving abilities and learning attitudes of two elementary second graders after integrating picture books into problem-posing instruction and administering tests on addition and subtraction word problems. The case study approach was adopted; where two second graders, having difficulty in comprehending addition and subtraction word problems, were selected from the researcher¡¦s class. Both students were given addition and subtraction word problems problem-solving pretests and were interviewed afterwards to further analyze their problem-solving abilities and attitudes so as to refer to remedial instruction. After instructional activities came to an end, addition and subtraction word problems problem-solving posttests were then given. Students were interviewed to explore the changes in problem-solving abilities and learning attitudes. Data were collected by observations, interviews and collections of related documents (including two cases¡¦ addition and subtraction word problems pretest and posttest, problem-solving worksheets, problem-posing worksheets, learning diaries, researcher¡¦s teaching introspection record table, audio-taping, video-taping, etc.). The changes in cases¡¦ problem-solving abilities and learning attitudes were analyzed and the findings indicated were four. First, picture books create problem-solving context that can raise cases¡¦ learning motives. Second, with problem-posing process of all types of addition and subtraction word problems and practice, problem-solving abilities of the cases were improved in four dimensions (Being able to locate unknown in problem targets and the known conditions from word problems; being able to select appropriate schematic drawing and to identify its relationship with the problem; being able to set up equations; and, being able to examine whether answers were reasonable.). Third, the remedial instructions designed were able to raise cases¡¦ level of confidence in problem-solving. Fourth, implementing remedial instruction by integrating picture books into problem-posing instruction enables not only transforming one case¡¦s passive learning attitudes to positive but also maintaining the other case¡¦s original positive attitudes. The above four results indicated that implementing addition and subtraction word problems remedial instruction to two second graders by integrating picture books into problem-posing instruction helped to improve children¡¦s problem-solving abilities and learning attitudes. Implications on research and practice were also given.

Thesis (M.A. (English))--University of Pretoria, 2003.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the picture book preferences of grade four Aboriginal students, to discover what books have the greatest appeal and to determine which specific factors influence their choices. The study took place at an inner city elementary school with a high population of Aboriginal students located in the heart of the Canadian prairies. Experienced educators know that the majority of Aboriginal chidlren come to school with little or no exposure to books. Studies have shown that the ability or lack of ability to read at grade level is a strong indicator of future academic success. Teachers and librarians have little information available to assist them in choosing literature that will be of interest to Aboriginal students and motivate them to read and through practice improve their reading skills. Provincial governments are looking for research that addresses the needs of this growing population. Twelve grade four Aboriginal students participated in the study, seven boys and five girls. The students viewed forty-five books that were divided into three sets of fifteen and chose one book from each set to read and respond to through writing and/or drawing. After the book selection and response sessions were complete, the researcher interviewed each child to determine the one book they would most want to take home. The study concludes that: 1) Students preferred to read picture books portraying Aboriginal characters that reflected their own image; 2) Students transposed the urban and rural settings in the Aboriginal books to make relevant connections with their lives; 3) Aboriginal books portraying Aboriginal characters was the genre with the greatest appeal; 4) Students preferred vivid realistic illustrations; 5) Students background experience frequently determined their preferences in books and also increased their motivation to read; 5) Realistic pictures with minimal amounts of text held great appeal for boys selecting information books. It is hoped that the study will assist teachers and librarians in selecting literature that will be of interest to Aboriginal students encouraging them to read more and by improving their reading skills raise the level of their general academic achievement.

This thesis is a study of the narrative language of Elsa Beskow, Sweden's most famous children's writer of the early twentieth century. The overall aim of the thesis is to contribute to the understanding of why Beskow's stories are still among the most popular children's books in Sweden, more than a hundred years after her literary debut. My investigation is a quantitative study of word-class distribution, various syntactic features, and readability in four picture-books and four other stories. To begin with, Beskow's language is compared to that of other texts written for young readers, including children's fiction, a contemporary reading-book, and popular comic strips. The results indicate that Beskow has something in common with all of these materials, especially with children's fiction. However, she also has her own style, which is different from the children's fiction I compare with. For example, her sentences are comparatively long and often begin with a conjunction. Moreover, Beskow uses many address phrases and interjectional phrases, and the initial clause-constituent is often some other clause element than the subject. Additionally, Beskow's narrative language is compared to conversational language and to formal prose. The results show that Beskow moves along the whole scale, from conversation to formal writing, depending on what aspect of her language use is considered. In some cases, her style even falls outside of the scale. For example, placing the subject in initial position is less common in Beskow's writing than in both conversation and formal writing. Finally, the variation between Beskow's texts is examined. The analysis shows, among other things, that the oral influences on Beskow's style increased during the five decades she wrote stories.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utifrån ett genusperspektiv visa hur pojkar och flickor beskrivs i bilderböcker för barn. För att få syn på detta har karaktärernas grad av aktivitet i handlande situationer analyserats. För att vidare fördjupa resonemanget och problematisera könsstereotyper så har ett feministiskt poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv använts som har applicerats på hur bokens karaktärer presenteras.   Metoden som använts är feministisk poststrukturalistisk textanalys där fokus legat på texternas samverkan med bilderna. Elva böcker har analyserats med hjälp av Maria Nikolajevas teorier rörande barnlitteratur och Hillevi Lenz Taguchis forskning om feministisk poststrukturalism.   Resultatet visar att även om teman och historier vid första anblick verkar vara könsneutrala så visar en noggrannare analys att mer dolda könsroller förekommer. Slutsatsen i detta arbete är att vissa könsroller ligger så djupt rotade i vårt samhälle att de kan vara svåra att se. Böckerna som barn kommer i kontakt med i sin vardag är väldigt viktiga när det handlar om hur de lär sig se på genusfrågor och därför är det viktigt att vuxna har en djupare förståelse kring hur de pratar om sådana frågor.   Aspekter på kön och genus är med det feministiska poststrukturalistiska synsättet något som ligger mer eller mindre dolt i hur människor förhåller sig till varandra. Strukturer och handlingsmönster tas för givna och risken finns att de återupprepas och normaliseras om man inte närmare studerar dem. Med en textanalys som den som gjorts i denna text kan man kritiskt granska företeelser som förekommer i böckerna. Genom att se på hur och varför saker presenteras som de gör kan man lättare få diskussionen till ytan. / The purpose of this thesis is to study how boys and girls are described regarding actions in children’s literature through a gender perspective, in order to observe whether the characters are passive or active when it comes to actions. To further deepen the reasoning and to problematize gender stereotypes a feministic poststructuralistic perspective has been applied to observe how the characters are being presented.   The method being used is a feministic poststructuralistic text analysis where focus has been on how text cooperates with pictures. Eleven books has been analyzed based on Maria Nikolajeva’s theories on children’s literature and Hillevi Lenz Taguchi’s research on feministic poststructuralism   The result shows that even though themes and stories seems to be gender neutral at first glance a deeper analysis shows that hidden gender roles are present. The conclusion in this thesis is that some gender roles are so deeply rooted in our society that they might be hard to perceive. Books that children come in contact with during a day are very important when it comes to how they learn about gender issues and therefor it is important that adults have a deeper understanding on how to talk about such issues.   Aspects on sexuality and gender are with the feministic poststructuralistic point of view something that lies more or less hidden when it comes to how people interact. Structures and action patterns are being taken for granted and there is therefore a risk that they are being repeated and normalized if not being studied. With a text analysis such as the one being done in this thesis one can critically study phenomena being present in books. By studying how and why things are presented the way they are one can easier move the discussion to the surface.

This study investigated using literature as an alternative means to teach the art curriculum. Three widely used integrated curriculum models (Reading Improvement Through Art, Learning Through the Arts, and Champions of Change) were studied and analyzed in search of the best features for art-literature integration. A new curriculum is developed for two different grades using the Fulton County Elementary Art Education Curriculum standards as the foundation. This study used picture books as the catalyst to create an art-literature curriculum.