The effect of intelligence games education program on preschool children's problem solving skills

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the Intelligence Games Education Program (IGEP) on the problem solving skills of preschool children. In the study, the explanatory mixed method, in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used together, is preferred. In the quantitative part of the study, the pre-test, post-test and persistence-test are used in the control group quasi-experimental design, and in the qualitative part the case study method is used. The homogenous sampling technique, which is one of the purposeful sampling techniques, is used to determine the children in the experimental and control groups. In this framework, the study group of the research; A total of 25 pre-school children, 13 of them in the experimental group consist of the parents and teacher of these children and 12 of them in the control group, who attend preschool education classes in the 2020-2021 academic year in two kindergartens in the same education region in the city center of Ankara. IGEP consisting of integrated activities is prepared within the scope of the study. Research data is collected through the "Personal Information Form", "Teacher Interview Form" and "Parent Interview Form" developed by the researcher and by utilizing the scale developed by Aydoğan et al. (2012) entitled "Problem Solving Skills Scale (PSSS)". After the application of PSSS as a pre-test to the experimental and control groups, the IGEP is applied to the experimental group as a total of 24 activities along eight weeks-three days a week. No external intervention is made to the control group and they continue their routine programs. After the IGEP application, PSSS is applied to the experimental and control groups as a post-test, and qualitative data are obtained from the teacher and parents by using the "Teacher Interview Form" and "Parent Interview Form", which include semi-structured questions to determine the opinions of the classroom teachers and parents about the program. In order to determine the permanence of the applied IGEP on the problem-solving skills of the children in the experimental group, a persistence test is applied after four weeks the post-test application. Mann Whitney-U, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks and Friedman Tests are used in the analysis of quantitative data; qualitative data are analyzed with a content analysis. As a result of the research, it has been determined that IGEP is effective on the problem solving skills of preschool children in the experimental group, and that this effect is also permanent and there is no difference of the gender variable in the problem-solving skills. In addition, according to the teacher's opinion, IGEP contributes to children's motivation, skills, emotions and communication. In addition to this, according to the opinions of the parents, it has been found that it increases the children's emotions, skills, self-regulation and creativity. Moreover, with the results of the research, the widespread intelligence games in pre-school education program is suggested. Meanwhile, studies on the relationship between motivation and attention with other aspects of cognitive and social-emotional development such as self-regulation and communication skills are recommended. At the end of the study, suggestions for educators and researchers have been shared.