A research on the perception of traditional and digital games among preschool teachers through metaphors

In this study, it was aimed to examine the cognitive structures of preschool teachers towards the concepts of traditional play and digital play that they use in the education process through metaphors.In the study, methodological and data diversification techniques were used by increasing the quality, validity and reliability of the work with case science (phenomenology) and situation study (case study) pattern from qualitative research model. The group of participants for the study was decided using a benchmark (criteria) sampling method in purpose sampling techniques. Participants consisted of 160 preschool teachers working in schools affiliated with the Ministry of Education in the Viranşehir district of Şanlıurfa province in the 2022-2023 academic year.A data collection form consisting of three sections was used as a data collection tool. In the first chapter, "Traditional Play is like .................... Because....... ." question in the second section, "Digital game is like ................ Because ............... ." and in the third part, the question "Please state your thoughts about traditional game and digital game as a short essay." was included. A pilot study was conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the prepared measurement tool. A content analysis was used to analyze and interpret the data that was collected from the participants. The coefficient of inter-expert agreement for the reliability of the study was calculated as 94.15% for the first part, 92.21% for the second part and 97.40% for the third part. The data obtained were tabulated by calculating frequency values and percentage values from descriptive statistics. In the first part of the data collection form, the metaphors created by the preschool teachers were grouped into 8 conceptual categories according to their common characteristics. In this context, it was found that preschool teachers' metaphors related to the concepts of traditional and digital games were mostly concentrated in the category of "involving emotional expressions".In the second part, the concepts of traditional and digital games were discussed in the context of different themes within the categories of similar and differentiating metaphors.In the themes created, it was seen that there were metaphors in both types of games. Considering the common characteristics of the compositions analyzed in the third section, it was found that they are concentrated in 6 conceptual categories. In this context, it was found that preschool teachers' writings about play concepts were mostly grouped in the category of "conscious awareness". In all sections of the data collection tool used in the study, it was observed that teachers expressed their cognitive structures easily, adequately and in detail.