EVALUATION OF THE UPDATED PRESCHOOL EDUCATION PROGRAM IN THE CONTEXT OF NATUREBASED EDUCATION PRACTICES

Ay M.

18th International Congress of Research in Education, Ankara, Türkiye, 27 - 28 Eylül 2024, ss.244-245, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Ankara
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.244-245
  • Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Nature-based education is an educational approach that includes nature in the education process, provides children with environmental protection and sustainability awareness, and is based on learning by doing and experiencing, and extends beyond the classroom. There are research findings in the literature that show the positive effects of contact with nature from early years on children's multifaceted development, especially their attention span, emotional regulation skills, and physical and academic maturity. During early childhood, children spend a significant part of the day in preschool education institutions. Therefore, children's development is greatly affected by preschool education environments as well as the family environment in which they receive primary care. Considering the positive effects of the time children spend with nature on their development, the processes in which children come into contact with nature gain importance in early childhood education. In our country, a new program called the Updated Preschool Education Program was published by the Ministry of National Education in 2024 and started to be implemented in February 2024. The aim of this study is to examine the Updated Preschool Education Program in the context of nature-based education practices. In this study, which was planned with the qualitative research method, the document analysis technique was used. The Preschool Education Program published by the Ministry of National Education in 2024 was selected as the data source for the study. The Program Evaluation Form developed by the researcher was used to obtain the data for the study. The Program Evaluation Form was presented to two field experts, and the form was finalized in line with the opinions received from the experts. The form was established on two focuses: “Content (objectives, basic principles, features)” and “Design (development areas, outcomes, activity types, learning centers)”. According to the results obtained from the research; It was seen that the program included suggestions for nature-based education practices. However, while the suggestions in question were included in the explanations of some outcomes; an activity type called “Out-of-School Learning” activity, which includes nature-based education practices, was included. It was seen that nature and environmental education was included within the scope of the Outof-School Learning activity. In addition, the emphasis on “Outdoor Play” in the daily plan program in the 2024 program is striking.