Barbara Irwin, Ash Grove High School
Randall J. Andreasen, New Mexico State University
The purpose of this study was the creation of guidelines used in the evaluation of agricultural literary content in children’s picture and informational books. Increasingly our nation’s children are more and more removed from the family farm of yesteryear. There exists a real need to provide education in and about agriculture to our nation’s school children. A Content Analysis Guideline (CAG) was developed for the evaluation of such materials by educators and media specialists. Four independent reviewers evaluated ten children’s books with agricultural themes to assess the CAG’s effectiveness. There was a 95% agreement among evaluators on which books contained acceptable versus unacceptable agricultural information. The Content Analysis Guideline will allow educators and media specialists to select appropriate texts that will portray the food, fiber, and natural resources areas in an unbiased and nonstereotypical manner.