Analyze whether picture story books published for preschoolers include geographic concepts

This research study aims to analyze whether picture story books published for preschoolers in Turkey include geographic concepts and to investigate preschool teachers' opinions about the importance of using picture story books and whether they use these books to teach children geographic concepts.As the sample of the research, a total of 250 preschool picture story books selected using the chosen sampling method from the libraries, private and public preschools, and bookstores in Edirne, published between 2005 and 2011, and 30 preschool teachers from Edirne region volunteering to participate in the study have been used.In this research study, the survey method has been used. First, a literature review about children?s literature and geography has been conducted. The story books have been evaluated using the ?Book Evaluation Form? developed by the researcher with the help of expert opinion to see whether they include geographic concepts. Then, the data obtained from this evaluation have been analyzed using the statistical software package SPSS 15.0. Results indicate that ?place? is the most mentioned concept among the picture story books in the sample, while ?map? is the least mentioned one.Teachers have been interviewed using a questionnaire including 15 open-ended questions to determine the place and importance of geographic concepts in preschool picture story books and how efficient these books are being used. Findings suggest that preschool teachers, in general, use picture story books which include geographic concepts to teach children geography and that they think geographic education is essential for preschoolers.KEYWORDSChildren?s literature, preschool, picture story books, geography, geographic concepts