The use of visual art activities for effective environmental education in preschool period

Preschool education covers critical periods when the foundations of children's future lives are laid. The child can carry the traces of the education he received in this period until the end of his life. Giving environmental education in these critical periods can form the basis of being environmentally conscious individuals in the future. In environmental education, an education program supported by art activities can be applied to ensure that children learn by doing-living, using their imagination and creativity, and having fun. The main purpose of this research is to increase environmental awareness in the environment created with interrelated art activities for effective environmental education in preschool children. The work is based on the project approach and focused on the environment created by art activities. The study group, which is in the trial model, includes 48-60 month-old children in the kindergartens of Atatürk Primary School in Kars City Center. The study is in the model of pretest-posttest and control group. The researcher applied pre-test, application and post-test to the experimental group. The control group applied pre-test and post-test. Art activity plans related to environmental issues were prepared by the researcher for the experimental group and applied based on the project-based teaching method. Each activity, related to each other, took place within the scope of environmental issues in the designated part of the class and was exhibited in the environment created until the end of the study. Environmental achievements and activities included in the MEB 2013 pre-school education program were applied to the control group by classroom teachers. "Environmental Awareness Test" was applied to the children in the pre-test and post-test applications. As a result of the study, it has been determined that the application of the environment created by art activities in pre-school environmental education has a significant effect on raising environmental awareness.