The effect of socio-economic status on environmental awareness of preschool children

The impact of ever-developing technology is the interaction of people with the natural environment has been restricted as a result of the shaping of living spaces from natural environments to concretized crowded cities, and people have even become afraid of nature. Especially in regions where the rate of urbanization and socioeconomic level is high, there has been a negative attitude towards direct nature experiences of children for various reasons. Regardless of the environment in which they live, the socioeconomic level of 21st century families can affect the age at which children are introduced to technology. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of children at different socioeconomic levels towards various situations related to the environment; it is aimed to determine which socioeconomic level children have more nature experiences, whether these experiences have an effect on their nature awareness, and which of the active play experience in the natural environment and play in the digital environment options children with high awareness choose. For this purpose, case study method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group consisted of 20 children in 4 pre-school education institutions affiliated to Trabzon Provincial Directorate of National Education and 15 children in 3 pre-school education institutions affiliated to Rize Provincial Directorate of National Education, totaling 35 children and their parents. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews using visuals created by the researcher and a family information form designed to collect demographic information. As a result of the study, it was seen that the child's age, number of siblings, years in preschool education institution, parental education level, family income level and mother's occupation affected environmental awareness. It was concluded that children with high environmental awareness preferred to play in a natural environment.