Religiously Diverse Multicultural Literature for Early Childhood.

Area of Science:

• Education
• Religious Studies
• Children's Literature

Background:

• Culturally sustaining teaching challenges inequities by affirming students' diverse religious backgrounds.
• Teacher educators and teachers need effective pedagogy to understand diverse student populations and foster acceptance of different religious beliefs.
• Multicultural literature is a valuable tool for promoting religious diversity and empathy in early childhood education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore and select multicultural literature representing religious diversity for early childhood classrooms.
• To identify literature focusing on major religions practiced in the U.S.

Main Methods:

• A systematic search for multicultural literature representing religious diversity was conducted.
• A rubric was used to evaluate 436 obtained books against predefined criteria.
• Thematic analysis was performed on the selected books.

Main Results:

• The search yielded 549 books, with 436 obtained and 54 meeting the criteria.
• A majority of the selected books focused on Judaism.
• Four key themes emerged: immigration and refugees, holidays, sharing memories and stories, and building understandings and empathy.

Conclusions:

• The study identified a sample of multicultural literature that can foster understanding and respect for diverse religious and cultural groups.
• Implementation examples and thematic insights are provided for educators.
• This literature can support the development of citizens who accept and empathize with diverse religious traditions.