1,5-2,0 ve 4,5-5,0 yaş çocuklarında oyun yöntemi ile büyük-küçük ve uzun-kısa kavramlarının işlev ve dil düzeylerinde değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

165 9. ö Z E T Bu araştırma, değişik eğitim modellerinde önemli bir yeri olan `oyun `dan, çocuğun davranışına en yakın ve güvenilir bilgi verici bir yöntem olarak, değerlendirme de de yararlanılması amacıyla yapılmıştır. Değerlendirilmesi yapılan kavramlar, litera türde açıklanmamış soruları bulunan `büyük -küçük` ve `uzun-kısa` kavramlarıdır. Kavram Gelişim Modelleri ve özel Eğitim Model lerine dayanılarak; herhangi bir kavramdaki Mgı, İşlev ve Dilde Anlama ile Doğal İfadede kullanım düzeylerine göre değerlendirme yapılması gereğine uyulmuştur. 1,5-2,0 yaş ve 4,5-5,0 yaş çocuklarında, oyun yöntemi ile işlev ve dil düzeylerinde, `büyük -küçük`, `uzun- kısa` kavramlarının değerlendirmesi yapılmıştır. Bu amaçla on beş test oyuncağı hazırlanmış ve her yaş ve cinsiyetten eşit sayıda olmak üzere toplam 4 0 çocukta uygulaması yapılmıştır. Oyun yöntemi ölçütlerine göre seçilen oyuncak- lardaki kavram gelişimi ölçütleri değerlendirilmiştir. Oyun yöntemi ölçütleri: I- 0,60 ve üstü oranda işlev düzeyinde kavram ba şarısı elde edilen oyuncaklar.166 II- Çocuğun aktif olduğu ve/veya ortaklaşa oyun kurulabilen başarılı oyun kurma düzeyi elde edilen oyuncaklar. III- Oyuncağın yapısında, kavramla ilgili işlevin uyarıldığı, yönlendirme gerektirmeyen oyun caklar. Bu ölçütlere göre seçilen oyuncaklardaki kavram gelişimi ölçütlerine göre yapılan değerlendirmelerde şu bulgular elde edilmiştir: işlev, Dilde Anlama ve Doğal İfadede kullanım düzeyleri 1,5-2,0 yaş ve 4,5-5,0 yaşın karşı laştırıl- masıyla çok belirgin olarak ayrı kavram aşamaları olarak bulunmuştur. İşlevden, dilde anlama ve dilde kullanma düzeylerine doğru, başarı oranları artmaktadır. Yaşa göre, değerlendirildiğinde 1,5-2,0 yaş için `büyük-küçük` kavramında en çok işlev, sonra dilde anlama düzeyi içeren değerlendirme yöntemi uygundur. `Uzun-kısa` kavramında da 1,5-2,0 yaş gibi erken bir yaşta, işlev düzeyinde ka zanım vardır. 4,5-5,0 yaşta tüm düzeyler uygundur, ancak uzun-kısa' da doğal ifadede kullanım beklenemez. Bu araştırmada, çok erken yaşlarda kavram ge lişimi değerlendirmesinin yapılabileceği ve bunun hangi düzeyde olduğunun belirtilmesinin önemli olduğu görül mektedir.167 Literatüre göre `tümde benzerlik` ilkesine göre gruplama yapması beklenen 5 yaşından küçük çocuklar gru buna giren 1,5-2,0 yaş çocukları, oyun anlamı bulduk ları bir oyuncakla, inceleme ve el-göz koordinasyonu içeren işlemler sonucu `boyutta benzerlik` ilkesine göre gruplama yapmışlardır. Bu sonuç da, çocuğun biliş potansiyeline yak laşımda; oyun yönteminin etkili olduğunu göstermektedir, t

168 10, SUMMARY This ressearch is done in order to use `piay` as a method of testing and to evaluate the development of `big-small` and `long-short` concepts in children of ages 1,5-2,0 years olds and 4,5-5,0 year olds, `Play` is chosen as a method of testing, so that the child is more active in his/her imagination; can choose toys among those that are prepared for the evaluation of `big-small` and `long-short` concepts, and can play with whatever image comes to his/her mind. The testor tries to be less active during the tests. However, the testor can develop the child's `imagination` in order to include the concepts to be tested, and in order to share the joy of the child. Many educational models, like that of Montessori, Froebel, Bruner, Weickert, etc., give importance to the child's free activity and self exploration. Also, the,. recent studies in `Play and Dramatization in Education` see the `play` as the child's most natural method of learning. Play includes the method of a scientist: curioisity-exploration, trial, repetition and creativty. Therefore, the child will be more comfortable at being tested, if the `play` properties are maintained during the tests.169 In this study 15 toys were prepared, to evaluate the conceptual development in these polar concepts: `big- small` and `long-short`. There are some issues in the research of these concepts. Such as, within the limits of this study's library research no information has been found about these concepts in infants. Although, it is known that there are conceptualizations of animal and geometric figure concepts at an age as early as 6 and 9 f months (49,51) no information has been found related to `big-small` and `long-short` concepts at the very early ages. From many educational models, especially those in the special education (Kephart, Getman, etc.) the general framework of the conceptual development is that: 1. Perceptual, 2. Functional (From the use of objects that require perceptual - motor coordinations) and 3. Language (Comprehension and using the. concept terms in natural expression), According to this framework, and based on the researches that found conceptualization at 6 and 9 month olds, at the level of visual perception, and on those that found conceptualization at the level of function at 12-24 months (49,50,51), the hypothesis of this study is that: 1,5-2,0 year olds (18-24 months) have the `big- small` and `long-short` concepts at least at the functional level.170 The test includes functional knowledge (putting the particles of toys according to their sizes or length^) and verbal comprehension and verbal production in the natural expression during play. Other variable in the conceptual evaluation is the grouping behaviour: Grouping is used by many researchers (6,64) as an indirect, but an efficient method of concept development, 'According to recent models, such as in Smith's Model for Perceptual Classification in Children and Adults (1989), the children under age five are expected to group with global similarities among different modalities, or different dimensions, such as color and sound, or color and size (10). in this study, `global` and `dimensional` similarity principles of 1,5-2,0 year olds and 4,5-5,0 year olds is tested, on one toy: a matchboard including particles with dimensions form colored or not-colored and big or small. Another variable related to grouping behaviour is whether the categorization of long and short toy * ` particles are, a complete-2 categories (G2) or an incomplete categorization (G.. ). The above variables related to conceptual development (e.g; Functional knowledge of concepts, Verbal Comprehension, and Verbal production in the natural expression during play, Grouping: 1) Global/Dimensional, 2) Complete, uncomplete categories) is evaluated on the toys that would be selected, according to the variables171 below which are indicators of `play as a method of conceptual testing.`: 1. Successful `Play` improvisation, (the child most active, or the child and the testor are both active). 2. Functional success with 0.60 or above ratio. 3. Functional success with no guidance (The toys stimulate the functions related to big-small, long -short. ) The study is done with 40 children with equal groups in age and sex. The schools that they come from are equated on the good educational environment criteria according to kindergarden programs. The results about the play method, showe'd that the three variables are consistent with each other. The conceptual evaluation showed that, 1,5-2,0 year olds have the functional knowledge of `big-small` and `long-short`. They have `big-small` concept also in the comprehension level, but not the `long-short`. In their natural expression, big-small is very rare, and long-short is absent. 4,5-5,0 year olds have these polar concepts at all levels, except the `long-short` at the natural expression level. Why they prefer to use big-small instead172 of long-short is tried to be explained by examining 3 models (56,57,58) and proposing some new perspectives. In addition to perceptual, functional, and cognitive developmental factors, seperately explained by the models, the importance of these polar concepts in the develop ment of `self` concept, is proposed and the other factors are explained by a `cognitive-need` frame-work. Another group results are related to grouping behaviour: 1,5-2,0 year olds, as well as 4,5-5,0 year olds were found to group toy particles in the matchboard according to `dimensional similarity`. This result was interpreted, as the `play` a most appealing method to the child's own curious i ty and exploration. The complete- 2 categories in the long-short particles were only done with the 4,5-5,0 year olds,.- and remarkably more in girls. Since there were also differences in the verbal levels between boys and girls at all ages, this result can be interpreted in two ways: 1. Grouping behaviour is related to Verbal Comprehension, 2. The 4,5-5,0 year old girls experience the grouping behaviour more in their `neatness` concepts in the `house` plays. In summary, `play` is a method of testing in which the child feels comfortable at being tested. He/she is active and free to play with the materials173 with whatever `image` comes to mind. The experimenter shares the child's play and can develop the imaginations. This flexible method, is standardized by `the purpose of the toys`. When the child is free in the improvisation and exploration, the data will be more near to the conceptual development of the child. On the other hand, conceptual assesment should include the infants, but at the level suitable to their perceptual or functional or language experience.