Views of pre-school education teachers graduated from Anadolu University Education Faculty on the usage of project approach in their applications

Pre-school education is a period during which children's interests, habits, attitudes and behaviors are shaped and fundamentals of their personality development are established. Since the education children get during this period will be effective through their lives, the educational environments prepared for them should be appropriate to fulfill their needs and interests and encourage their developments. Project work applied in preschool education helps children develop new skills, attitudes and habits facilitating their researching skills in the areas they are interested in. Project work which is not limited to school environment and which is conducted with the support of families encourages children to work cooperatively. Therefore, real learning can take place. Teachers can help children to actively participate into learning and create an enjoyable learning environment. This study aims at revealing pre-school teachers' views and suggestions on the application of Project work. The subjects of the study are the teachers who graduated from Anadolu University Pre-School Teacher Education Program after 2002 academic year. The study was conducted based on the views of teachers who work at preschool education institutes in Eskisehir in 2005-2006 academic years. survey technique was used in the study and 17 preschool teachers were interviewed with. The data for the study were collected through semi-structured interview which is a qualitative data collection technique. The data were analyed using descriptine analysis techniques. Then, the results were discussed based on the numeratical findings. The results of the study revealed that the teachers find applying Project Approach in preschool education useful and think that it facilitates all the development areas of children. They reported using various resources such as books, magazines and CDs. Most of the teachers stated that they insert Project Approach in their syllabus at least once a week and take their children's characteristics into consideration when determining the aims of the projects. They also stated considering children's experiences and interests as well as needs and developmental levels while applying Project Approach. The results also revealed teachers' opinions stating that their students enjoy participating into projects which also create a group dynamism in the classroom. Families were also revealed as supporting Project Approach by actively participating in the projects and by supplying necessary equipments. The results of the study also revealed some problems in the application of Project Approach; the children, teachers, managers, lack of necessary equipments or education environment were reported as causing problems for Project Approach. Teachers also complained about experiencing problems because of the insufficient resources they have. They reported having some expectations from families, their colleagues, school managers, Anadolu University and Turkish Ministry of Education. Finally, they expressed their wish for increasing their knowledge and see various applications by participating into a seminar or an in-service training program on Project work.