Poster #31 - Still Hidden Figures: Gender and Race Representation in Children’s Educational Science Media

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

There is a troubling lack of diversity in STEM fields (NSF, 2018). This lack of real-world role models may help to perpetuate barriers to access to STEM for children, who may not see themselves represented in today’s scientists and engineers. How can society inspire girls and children of color to pursue science?

One possible solution is children’s science media. Television can influence viewers’ attitudes and beliefs about themselves and the world (Dill-Shackleford et al., 2017; Gerbner, 1998), and children are especially susceptible to this type of influence (Anderson & Pempek, 2005; Comstock & Scharrer, 2007). Depicting women and people of color as scientists could play an important role in filling the real-world STEM representation gap. But what does representation look like in early childhood science media?

To date only two studies have examined representation in children’s science media (Aladé, et al., 2021; Long, et al., 2022). Both studies found that female and minority characters were underrepresented in these programs compared to population statistics, but both studies were limited to small sets of screen media. To more fully explore what representation looks like in children’s science media today, we conducted a content analysis of commercially available children’s media (both books and videos) that aim to teach science concepts (Chlebuch et al., 2022). The final sample included 110 storybooks and 142 television episodes.

Of the 1,371 characters included in this sample, the majority were coded as not being human (n=800, 58%). Using non-human characters such as talking animals is a common way that children’s media producers circumvent the issue of diversity, because such characters can be presented without an explicit race. Examining only the subset of characters that were coded as human (n=571, 42%), white characters were the most common (n= 372, 62%). Black characters were the second most common, but they represented only 13% (n= 80) of the human portion of the sample. With respect to gender, male-presenting characters were the most prevalent, accounting for 59% of all characters (n=770, proportion test, p < 0.001).

This study additionally identified 245 main characters, 119 of which (46%) were coded as being human or human presenting. People of color were significantly less likely to be depicted as the main character (n=25, 21%) compared to white characters (n=79, 66%), proportion test, p < 0.001. Further, representation varied depending on the topic that the media was teaching: Male characters were significantly more likely to be depicted as the main character of media designed to teach about physics (proportion tests: p < 0.001) and biology (p < 0.001), but not of media designed to teach about science history (p = 0.167) or science practices (p = 0.724).

Although children’s media provides an opportunity to depict diverse characters engaging in science, media that are currently available mirror the real-world STEM diversity gap by featuring predominantly white male characters. Despite the recent push for on-screen diversity in media, women and minorities largely remain hidden figures in children’s science media.

Authors

• Natasha Chlebuch, Villanova University

• Aarti Bodas, Boston University

• Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Villanova University
  Presenting Author