Pre-school Teachers' Views on Sustainable Development Practices and Practice Example

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the views of pre-service teachers on sustainable development and implementation process in the pre-school period. In the study, phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The research was carried out with pre-service teachers studying in the fourth year of the Department of Pre-school Education at a state university in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey in the 2018-2019 academic year. In the study, an exemplary activity that can be applied in terms of sustainable development was designed by pre-service teachers to include the stages of the 7R model and was used to 15 children in the children 66-72 months. Research data were collected through interviews with pre-service teachers and observations of pre-service teachers. In the data analysis, descriptive and content analysis techniques were used together. As a result of the pre-service teachers' opinions, it was seen that their awareness increased, they were informed and happy, and the resources were insufficient. In terms of children, it has been observed that cognitive (sea creatures, water pollution, waste, recycling information), affective (respect for living things, nature protection, etc.) and motor (collection of garbage and waste, recycling materials, etc.) skill areas are positively supported. It is considered to be a guiding resource for pre-school teachers who want to apply the subject of sustainable development and for teacher candidates in the context of activity development