An investigation of preschool teachers' views and practices on outdoor science and mathematics activities

The aim of this research is to investigate preschool teachers' views and practices on outdoor science and mathematics activities. In this case study the qualitative research method, was used. The participants of the study are 10 preschool teachers working in 2 independent kindergartens located in Buca province of İzmir. The data collected during the 2017-2018 academic year. In this research, Semi-structured Interviews and Observation were utilized to collect data. Content analysis is used to analyze the data obtained through the semi-structured interview form. Observational data analyzed by calculating the frequencies and percentages. The finding of the study suggest that preschool teachers have positive views on outdoor science and mathematics activities. Most of the teachers think that outdoor education is essential. Preschool teachers' state that the most benefit of outdoor education is developing children's cognitive skills. Teachers pointed out that they perform the outdoor science activities more frequently and both students and they are interested in outdoor science activities. Teachers argue that outdoor science and mathematics activities provide experiential learning which is more often occurs. The teachers point out that there are different reasons for not including outdoor education such as not having adequate outdoor education, negative parental views, and inadequacies of the school's structures regarding outdoor education. It is found that teachers do not apply outdoor mathematics activities and do not have diversity about outdoor science activities. However, the observations show that the free time and play activities are the most common activities occurs in the outdoor. The observation results also support that. It was observed that teachers often prefer appropriate weather conditions for outdoor science and mathematics activities and they do not use natural materials.