An analysis of the children's perception of home and immediate environment

This study analyzes how 6 years-old children perceive the "concept of home and immediate environment". The dissertation aims to investigate the factors which shape the perceptions among children who live in different social frameworks and locations, about the "concept of home and immediate environment", with reference to the places they live and their immediate surroundings. The dissertation is composed of five major chapters. These are; the general introduction including the literature survey as well, field study, findings and analyses, the conclusions and recommendations, in the respective order. The general introduction discusses the meaning of space for human life, as well as the aims, scope, and methodology of the study, before going over the literature. The section on literature survey provides the definitions of the concepts of perception and cognition, discusses the perceptive development of children. Then, "the concept of home and immediate environment" is explained from an architectural perspective. Finally, the child-protection system in place in Turkey is discussed, as the field study was carried out with children living with their families, as well as children living under the custody of the state. The field study was implemented with 6 years-old children living in two distinct sets of social environments and spaces. The study presented the children a single set of materials, and asked them to depict the "concept of home and immediate environment" using the materials. The results derived from the "formal, functional and semantic" analysis of the depictions by two distinct groups of children present certain similarities as well as differences. Finally, the findings and analyses, and conclusions and recommendations chapters discuss the findings in the light of the literature survey. This thesis is supported by KTU BAP (Scientific Research Projects) Unit. Keywords: Child, Home, Perception, Cognition, Functional Analysis, Formal Analysis, Semantic Analysis