Ginger: The Effect of Illustrated Storybooks on Children’s Response and Teachers’ Facilitation in STEM Education

This study aims to explore children’s and teachers’ responses to the integration of illustrated storybook content into STEM activities in early childhood. The correlation between STEM content and illustrations in children's storybooks conveying scientific information is a crucial aspect that can impact children's learning of STEM. Studies have reported the utilization of storybooks in STEM education for young children (Abanoz & Yabaş, 2022; Pantoya et al., 2015), yet an absence of research has been noted regarding the impact of illustrated storybooks on children's engagement in STEM education. There is substantial research evidence that early childhood teachers have low self-efficacy beliefs about facilitating STEM education (Abanoz & Deniz, 2021; Brenneman et al., 2019). Therefore, providing teachers with rich resources is a critical agenda for early childhood education. On the other hand, illustrated storybooks also have the potential to reflect and shape empathy and action regarding understanding difficult situations and to raise generations beware of and overcome these situations (Crawford et al., 2019).