| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to establish objective criteria for assessing environmental education literature for preschool children. Once the criteria have been established, literature can be applied to the scale and graded producing a useful bibliography for educators. The preschool literature that was analyzed was selected from booklists and bibliographies cited in education and natural resource journals. The sample comprised 112 titles that were available through the juvenile literature collection of the Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A&M University. Selections were limited to those materials classified as trade books dealing with themes such as wildlife, domestic animals, ecology, nature study, and science concepts. Titles were classified into genre, or categories, according to the citations in the bibliographies they were derived from. The criteria established combined traditional literary elements with environmental education concepts. Grade levels were established for each of the criteria, each grade level chosen depending upon on the importance of the criteria. The results suggest that the criteria and the grading scale are a viable basis for analyzing preschool literature. The data base was sufficiently large and the criteria grades distinctly different to quantifiably analyze the literature. |
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