Preschool Children’s Perceptions of Street A Model Study

Author : Ayşe Güler Küçükturan -Esra Betül Kölemen
Number of pages : 234-245

Abstract

Massive and unplanned urbanization, rapid loss of open space, an increase in the number of motor vehicles and heavy traffic cause urban areas to be dangerous for children. As a result, urban areas might not meet children’s requirements and might not be secure for them. The purpose of this study is to gather children’s perceptions about streets which are supposed to be their main playgrounds and to implement street designs derived from their views. This phenomenological study adopted a qualitative research design, in which data came from cases through various data collection tools and specification of themes provisional to these cases. The participants were 24 children in state schools, who aged between 60-71 months, and were sampled by simple random sampling method. The demographic information of the participants was collected via the “Personal Information Form” prepared by researchers. Data were collected by the four-dimensional interview protocol developed by Vosniadou and Brewer (1992) and Vosniadou, Skopeliti and Ikospentaki (2004, 2005): a) specific statement, formed by three questions that reveal cognitive model related to their street perceptions, (b) drawing street pictures, (c) developing a concept map related to street perceptions, and (d) developing street models from this concept map. Data collected in the first two dimensions were analyzed and the street models were formed in the third dimension. As a result, data collected in each dimension showed that the street was composed of five dimensions from the children’s point of view: (1) climate-sky, (2) structures, (3) living creatures, (4) actions, (5) vehicles.

Keywords

Preschool, Street, Model, Concept Map, Child-Friendly Street

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