The Evaluation of Pre-service Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge about the Concept of Environment

Yıl 2015, Cilt: 4 Sayı: 2, 57 - 69, 15.04.2015

Berat Ahi , Fatma Alisinanoglu

https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.4.2.57

Öz

The purpose of the research is to evaluate pre-service preschool teachers' knowledge about environment by analyzing their drawings about it. 70 first grade, 99 second grade, 56 third grade and 44 fourth grade, with a total of 269 students have been evaluated in this research. This qualitative research was made with social structuralism vision. The data used in this research were gathered by draw and tell conversation technique, where pre-service teachers were asked to draw the first thing when they think about environment and explain it. When analyzing the data, both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. After analyzing collected data, it is seen that most used object in drawings are tree, human, house and sun, respectively. 4 themes and 12 subcategories under these themes are detected by pre-service teachers' drawings. The most drawn theme by pre-service teachers is Theme 3: a place which affected/designed by third persons, while the least drawn is Theme 4: a place where humans, animals and plants lives together. 10 categories have seen after analyzing explanations of the drawing. Most explanation seen in the places that supports human life category. Independent variables of the research (sex and grade level) and themes and explanations of the drawings are statically and meaningfully related to each other. The most significant result of this research is that pre-service preschool teachers have human-centric system of thought about environment

Anahtar Kelimeler

Environment, preschool education, drawing, knowledge, pre-service preschool teacher

Kaynakça

• Alerby, E. (2000). A way of visualising children’s and young people’s thoughts about the environment: a study of drawings. Environmental Education Research, 6(3), 206-222.
• Alisinanoğlu, F., İnan, H. Z. & Özbey, S. & Uşak, M. (2012). Early childhood teacher candidates` qualifications in science teaching. (Okul öncesi öğretmen adaylarının fen/doğa eğitiminde yeterlikleri). Social and Educational Studies (Energy Education Science & Technology Part B), , 4(1), 373-390.
• Ausubel, D. P. (2000). The acquisition and retention of knowledge: A cognitive view. New York: Springer.
• Bland, D. (2012). Analysing children’s drawings: Applied imagination. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 35(3), 235-242.
• Bord, R. J. & O’Connor, R. E. (1997). The gender gap in environmental attitudes: The case of perceived vulnerability to risk. Social Science Quarterly, 78(4), 830- 840.
• Cavicchioli, R., Amils, R., Wagner, D. & McGenity, T. (2011). Life and applications of extremophiles. Environmental Microbiology, 13(8), 1903-1907.
• Coates, E. (2002). ‘I forgot the sky’ children’s stories contained within their drawings. International Journal of Early Years, 10 (1), 21-35.
• Connell, S., Fien, J., Lee, J, Sykes, H. & Yencken, D. (1999). If ıt doesn’t directly affect you, you don’t think about ıt’: A qualitative study of young people’s environmental attitudes in two Australian cities. Environmental Education Research 5(1), 95-113.
• Cox, S. (2005). Intention and meaning in young children’s drawing. NSEAD, 24 (2), 115-125.
• Creswell, J., W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design. Choosing among five approaches. London: SAGE.
• Diem-Wille, G. (2001). A therapeutic perspective: The use of drawings in child psychoanalysis and social science. (Ed. T. V. Leeuwen ve C. Jewitt) Handbook of Visual Analysis. London: SAGE.
• Driver, R., & Bell, B. F. (1986). Students’ thinking and the learning of science: A constructive view. School Science Review, 67, 443-456.
• Einarsdottir, J., Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2009). Making meaning: Children’s perspectives expressed through drawings. Early Child Development and Care, 179(2), 217-232.
• Esa, N. (2010). Environmental knowledge, attitude and practices of student teachers. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 19(1), 39-50.
• Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: SAGE
• Freud, S. (1916). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. London: Hogarth Press.
• Gunstone ve White (2000). Probing understanding. Philadelphia: Falmer Press.
• Güler, T. (2010). Çevre eğitimi. (Ed. B. Akman, G. Uyanık Balat ve T. Güler) Okul öncesi dönemde fen eğitimi. Ankara: PegemA.
• IUCN (1970). International working on environmental education in the school curriculum, Final report. September, IUCN USA.
• Kaga, Y. (2008). Early childhood education for a sustainable world. (Eds. I. P. Samuelsson & Y. Kaga). The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society. Paris: UNESCO Press.
• Kandır, A., Yurt, Ö., & Cevher Kalburan, N. (2012). Okul öncesi öğretmenleri ile öğretmen adaylarının çevresel tutumları yönünden karşılaştırılması. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Bilimleri (KUYEB), 12(1), 317-327.
• Kaplowitz, M. D., & Levine R. (2005) How environmental knowledge measures up at abig ten university. Environmental Education Research, 11(2), 143–160.
• Ki-Moon, B. (2013). Zero hunger. Our Planet. Retrieved from May 7, 2014, http://www.unep.org/ourplanet/2013/may/en/
• Lee, B. E. (2008). Environmental attitudes and ınformation sources among African American college students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 40(1), 29-42.
• Lewis, D., & Greene, J. (1983). Your child’s drawings … their hidden meaning. London, UK: Hutchison.
• Loughland, T., Reid, A., & Petocz, P. (2002). Young people’s conceptions of environment: A phenomenographic analysis. Environmental Education Research, 8(2), 187-197.
• Manolli, C. C., Johnson, B., & Dunlap, R. E. (2007). Assessing children’s environmental worldviews: Modifying and validating the new ecological paradigm scale for use with children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(4), 3-13.
• McKeown-Ice, R. (2000) Environmental education in the United States: A survey of preservice teacher education programs. The Journal of Environmental Education, 32(1), 4–11.
• Miller, D. L. (2007). The seeds of learning: Young children develop important skills through their gardening activities at a midwestern early education program. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 6(1), 49-66.
• Moseley, C., Perrotta, B. D. & Utley, J. (2010). The draw-an-environment test rubric (daet-r): Exploring pre-service teachers’ mental models of the environment. Environmental Education Research, 16(2), 189-208.
• Özsoy, S., Özsoy, G., & Kuruyer, G. (2011). Turkish pre-service primary school teachers’ environmental attitudes: Effects of gender and grade level. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 12(2), 1-21.
• Pallant, J. (2011). SPSS survival manual. A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS. (4th ed.). Crows Nest: Australia: Allen & Unwin.
• Pauw, J. B. & Petegem, P. V. (2010). A cross-national perspective on youth environmental attitudes. Environmentalist, 2010(30), 133-144.
• Payne, P. (1998). Children’s conceptions of nature. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 19-26.
• Piaget, J. (1970). Genetic epistemology. New York, NY: Norton & Company.
• Rennie, L. J., & Jarvis, T. (1995). Children’s choice of drawings to communicate their ideas about technology. Research in Science Education, 25, 239-252.
• Samuelsson, I., P. & Kaga, Y. (2008). Introduction. (Eds. I. P. Samuelsson & Y. Kaga). The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society. Paris: UNESCO Press.
• Schäfer, N. (2012). Findings ways to do research on, with and for children and young people. Geography, 97(3), 147-154.
• Shepardson, D. P. (2005). Student ideas: What is an environment. The Journal of Environmental Education, 36(4), 49-58.
• Shepardson, D. P., Wee, B., Priddy, M. & Harbor, J. (2007). Students’ mental models of the environment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(2), 327-348.
• Snaddon, J. L., Turner, E. C. & Foster, W. A. (2008). Children’s perceptions of rainforest biodiversity: Which animals have the lion’s share of environmental awareness? PlosONE, 3 (7), 1-5.
• Taşkın, Ö., & Şahin, B. (2008). “Çevre” kavramı ve altı yaş okul öncesi çocukları. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2008(1), 1-12.
• Theodore, M.S. (2000) Elements of success in environmental education through practitionereyes. The Journal of Environmental Education, 31 (3), 4–11.
• Tuncer, G., Ertepınar, H., Tekkaya, C., & Sungur, S. (2005). Environmental attitudes of young people in Turkey: Effects of school type and gender. Environmental Education Research, 11(2), 215-233.
• Tuncer, G., Sungur, S., Tekkaya, C., & Ertepınar, H. (2007). A comparative study on pre-service teachers’ and elementary students’ attitudes towards the environment. International Research in Geographical & Environmental Education, 16(2), 188-198.
• Türkcan, B. (2013). Çocuk resimlerinin analizinde göstergebilimsel bir yaklaşım. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Bilimleri (KUYEB), 13(1), 585-607.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (1975). The international workshop on environmental education. Belgrade final report. Paris: UNESCO.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (1977). Intergovermental conference on environmental education. Tbilisi final report. Paris: UNESCO.
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Yavuzer, H. (2010). Resimleriyle çocuğu tanıma. (10. Baskı). İstanbul: Remzi.
• Yılmaz, S., Timur, S. & Timur, B. (2013). Secondary school students’ key concepts and drawings about the concept of environment. Anthropologist, 16(1-2), 45-55.
• Young, L. & Barrett, H. (2001). Adapting visual methods: Action research with Kampala street children. Area, 33(2), 141-152.
• Yuen, F. C. (2004). “It was fun … i liked drawing my thoughts”: Using drawings as a part of the focus group process with children. Journal of Leisure Research, 36(4), 461-482.