6. Appendices

Appendix i: Inductive Content Analysis for observations on Preschool children

Lower Level themes	Higher Level themes
Same genders spend more time together. Some play together but they were mostly separated Girls were playing with puzzles and links. Boys were playing with blocks and dinosaurs Girls played with toys that were colourful or “pretty” Boys were play-fighting – throwing blocks at each other playfully Boy wanted to play soccer	Playing patterns
Introvert boy was friends with girls. Extrovert boys seemed to stick with other boys more Boys and girls were generally separated but were not hostile A boy tried to kiss a girl	Relationship patterns
Boys tended to reject the experiment (conservation tasks) and were more dominant overall Girls tended to accept the experiment The boys responded to me more than the girls did Boy said he will grow up to become a man. Girl said she will grow up to become a woman	Response patterns

 

Appendix ii: Verbatim transcript of interview with Preschool teacher, Ms. Randee

How old are the kids?

• They are 3-5 years old

Would you say that the kids tend to copy models of the same gender?

• Yeah, I would say. A few do what they want to do – at this age they are still figuring it out. One student is very artistic and is still exploring → for instance, he will dress up → he knows he is a boy but does things that would be considered “girly”.

Would you say that gender affects the activities that the kids do?

• The kids sort of do what they are interested in. BUT they do what their friends do. For instance, boys like to play with blocks, girls like to draw

Does age have any effect on how they play?

• Age affects how they play! older ones are more creative, younger ones are more concrete → younger ones look up to the older ones

To the kids, is gender something “constant”?

• They are all aware of their gender. But they are still very innocent about what that actually means. The older girls want to dress up in dresses. But there is not a huge separation, as the girls still get dirty, etc.

Do the kids act because they think that this is how a boy/girl should act?

• They don’t. Not at all. They are very free-spirited