DEVELOPING THE DIGITAL NARRATIVE TOOL TO EXPLORE GENDER BIAS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

This paper introduces The Journey to Nova Reef, a digital storytelling application created to identify gender stereotypes among preschool-aged children (4-6 years old). Although Genderalize remains the only existing DST platform aimed at detecting gender bias, its design caters to older children (9-12 years old) and is not tailored for early childhood contexts. To fill this significant gap, the current study modifies the fivelens framework developed by Rubegni et al. (2019)- consisting of Role, Embodiment, Personality, Agency, and Emotion- to suit a younger developmental stage. Drawing from cognitive and constructivist perspectives on gender development, the application invites young children to participate in simplified story-based tasks and decision-making p ... continue reading->

Keywords: Digital Storytelling; Gender Stereotypes; Preschool Education