Where are the gifted children? : the representation of gifted students in caldecott medal books

Abstract

Education should provide the academic support to promote every child's potential. In my experience, schools often neglect the population of gifted students. One way to support any population is to provide books that include positive role models (Purves & Monson, 1984). Therefore, my study will attempt to answer the question: Are gifted students represented in children's literature? In particular, fictional Caldecott Medal books. The copyright dates range from 1938 to 2007. After creating a random sample of Caldccott Medal books, the selections were read and analyzed by the researcher for five specific traits of the gifted. As a means of analyzing these books, I created a schema to determine if the protagonists exemplified any of the gifted traits identified by prior research. My research revealed that out of 26 books, 14 characters were creative, 20 were intellectual, 6 were high achievers, 3 showed academic aptitude, and 4 were in the visual/performing arts. Next, the analysis revealed the protagonist characters were 17 males to 9 females; however, most surprising was the discovery that of all five characters identified as gifted, all were male and over the approximate age of eighteen. Certainly, the dominant educational implication from this study is the need for positive gifted role models that more equally represent both genders and that are school-age children.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2007

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Roberts, Sherron Killingsworth

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Education

Degree Program

Elementary Education

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education;Education -- Dissertations, Academic

Format

Print

Identifier

DP0022187

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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