'playground' Search Results
Children’s Play and Physical Activity in Traditional and Forest (Natural) Playgrounds
early childhood playground forest play physical activity children...
Early childhood is a crucial period for the physical and cognitive development of children. A child's exposure to nature is proven to be beneficial in this period of human life. The aim of the present research was to investigate children’s play and physical activity on a traditional playground and on a forest (natural) playground. Twenty-five observations took place on the traditional playground, and twenty-five observations were recorded on the forest playground. Twenty-five participating preschool children were observed in both playgrounds, but not necessarily in the same order. Research findings confirmed important qualities of natural playgrounds that provide children with a wide range of playing and learning opportunities not available on other playgrounds. Children were playing more with different natural materials in the forest playground and they more frequently played different chasing games and hide and seek in the forest playground. Participating children were also more physically active on the forest playground, and boys were more active on the forest playground than girls. The research concludes that it is important for preschool teachers to use natural playgrounds frequently and with regularity. Research design in this article is also an example of how GPS trackers can be beneficial for educational research.
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Child-Friendly Schools: An Assessment of Kindergartens
child-friendly school child rights kindergarten teaching-learning environment...
Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on children's rights, where all students are accepted, teaching-learning processes are organized according to children's interest needs, health, safety and protective measures are taken for children and gender-based discrimination is not provided. Preschool education institutions, which are considered to be very effective on the future of the child and the society, should be child friendly in this way. The aim of this study is to identify the teaching-learning environment of independent kindergartens in the context of a child-friendly. The data of the study was obtained from the independent kindergarten in different socioeconomic environments with “CFS Diagnostic Form”. According to the results, it was seen that in terms of effectiveness, the physical areas and materials of the schools were sufficient, but the places and qualifications that increase the effectiveness of teaching were insufficient; in terms of inclusiveness, all children attend school without discrimination in terms of inclusiveness, but female students have low access to school; in terms of democratic participation, means are used to ensure communication with the environment, in terms of healthy, safe and protective environment, physical requirements are fulfilled, necessary measures are taken, but ventilation and out-of-school safety measures are not sufficient and in terms of gender sensitivity, there is no discrimination based on gender. It has been concluded that the independent kindergartens are largely child-friendly, despite some inadequacies.
Exploring Student Representations of Biodiversity in Science Education in Morocco: A Didactic Perspective
biodiversity school program secondary school students’ representation...
In teaching, students' representations could constitute an obstacle to the construction of scientific knowledge and are often considered stable cognitive structures whose organization is sought to be inferred through questionnaires and interviews. This study aims at identifying and analyzing high school students’ representations related to the concept of biodiversity. To meet this objective, a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire were used to collect data. 202 Moroccan students participated in this survey (46.5% from rural areas and 53.5% from urban areas of the "Direction Provinciale" of education of Guelmim city in Morocco). The results of the interview indicated that only 1.82% of the students gave a definition that consists of the three biodiversity dimensions, namely the species, the ecosystems, and the genetic diversity. The questionnaire results revealed a low to medium correlation between their representations and their acquired knowledge related to the concept of biodiversity dealt with in Moroccan school programs (from the discipline of "scientific activity" in the primary cycle and that of "life and earth sciences" in the secondary cycle). The results further indicated a low presence of supervised activities related to biodiversity within the school and therefore a low degree of influence on the students' representations. It was concluded that there was no effective transmission or adequate assimilation of the concept of biodiversity among the students surveyed.
Integrating Computational Thinking Into Mathematics Class: Curriculum Opportunities and the Use of the Bee-Bot
bee-bot computational thinking mathematical thinking primary education...
The incorporation of Computer Science teaching in educational systems has increased in recent years. Given international interest, Chile has promoted projects to promote the development of students' digital skills. Focusing on this new educational context, this research reports the results regarding the identification of computational concepts and practices that can be articulated with the contents and skills of the curriculum. of Chilean mathematics. for first grade of primary school based on the use of the Bee-Bot robot. For this, the study followed a qualitative approach, developing a case study of the Chilean study program with the content analysis technique and using, as analysis categories, computational concepts and practices from the field of educational computing. In total, 30 learning objectives of the study program were analyzed. The results indicate that, although there is little articulation between computational concepts and first grade content proposed in the curriculum, there is greater articulation between computational practices and mathematical skills suggested in the Chilean curriculum. It is concluded that Computational Thinking can be developed from the earliest school levels using the Bee-Bot robot (or similar), and this is demonstrated by the structure of the Chilean primary mathematics curricular program.
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