Adaptation of the biophilia (connection with nature) test into Turkish

Environmental education plays a vital role in early childhood. Consequently, there is a growing need for new and innovative assessment tools to measure young children's connection with nature. The aim of this study is to adapt into Turkish a game-based assessment tool originally revised by Jessica MacKeen under the title "Psychometric Validation of a Play-Based Measure of Environmental Knowledge and Nature Relatedness in Preschool Children." The tool evaluates children's biophilia under three main dimensions: environmental awareness, environmental sensitivity, and environmental preferences. The study sample consisted of 280 typically developing children aged between 48 and 72 months, attending public preschools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the Adapazarı district of Sakarya Province. The adaptation process was carried out in accordance with scientific guidelines. All participants were included in the validity and reliability analyses. The reliability coefficients of the test were as follows: KR-20 was 0.78 for sections 1A–1B and 0.83 for sections 2A–2B. KR-21 values were 0.78 for sections 1A–1B and 0.82 for sections 2A–2B. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was 0.78 for sections 1A–1B and 0.74 for sections 2A–2B. Item analysis results indicated that the item difficulty and discrimination values were within acceptable limits. The test was examined with respect to various variables, including age, gender, parental education level, and frequency of outdoor play, and a test-retest procedure was implemented. No statistically significant differences were found among these variables. The results of the analyses indicate that the adapted version is a valid and reliable instrument for use with Turkish preschool children. Keywords: Biophilia, Early childhood, Nature connection, Test adaptation, Validity and reliability.