A study on indoor and outdoor space organizations at preschool education centers, regarding the education theories

Pre-school education constitutes an important phase at the beginningof the continuousness of education process. The transition of thefamily from traditional family to nucleus family and the rise of the lifestandards, result in women take part in economic life. Because of thissituation, there is a necessity of people and institutions for educationand for care of children, playing very important role within the growthand development of children. Generally the personal development ofchildren, starting from the early childhood, continues on the same wayin the following years. Thus, the main aim of the pre-school educationis to make children gain social and personal character to becomeuseful, productive and actively participating members in the society.The achievement of the aims of pre-school education is possible with awell-known, effective and systematic curriculum framework, which isappropriate for the needs and physiological and psychologicalcharacteristics of children. In this study, the environmental conditionsappropriate for needs of children are examined and the spaceorganizations and environmental conditions within these educationsystems are researched. Additionally, within the framework of theseeducation systems, some pre-school education institutions arepresented as samples and examined by analyzing the spaceorganizations. The definition, importance and the necessity of pre-school education is explained and nursery schools and playschools areexamined as pre-school education institutions. The history of pre-school education and the development of pre-school education areexamined. The nursery schools, as buildings for pre-school education,are examined by taking into account the environmental and urbanrelations, physical and functional characteristics and indoor-outdoorspace organizations. Additionally, the space organizations of teachrooms, which are one of the most important spaces in the nurseryschool, relations with other spaces in the school are studied.Furthermore, pre-school education systems, which promote children?sdevelopment, are studied by examining and comparing internationalsamples. In the conclusion, international samples and samples inAnkara are compared taking in to account the educations systems andspace organizations within these systems. As a conclusion, obtainingdata about appropriate environmental conditions and spaceorganizations for the children in the pre-school education is aimed.Key Words : Preschool education, kindergartens,preschool education theory, plan analysis