Examination of Topological Transformation Perception of Preschoolers According to Age Levels

The aim of this research is to examine topological transformation perception of preschoolers according to their age levels. This study was designed according to case study among qualitative research method. In this scope,... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of this research is to examine topological transformation perception of preschoolers according to their age levels. This study was designed according to case study among qualitative research method. In this scope, individual interviews were done with total of 42 children (21 girls, 21 boys) consisting of 15 children at the age of 4, 9 children at the age of 5, 18 children at the age of 6 that are educating in a private kindergarten in central district of Adana province. During interview two types of activities were applied to children in three different age group in order to obtain what their topological perceptions are. Interview period with each child lasted approximatelt 20 minutes. The first one was “yawning face activity” that aims to reveal “plasticity-wrinkling” property. The second one was “overhead” activity that aims to measure “distance-nearness” perception. During the application of activities as one of the researchers was applying activities to children, the other researcher was taking notes about the answers of children. The datas obtained from the interviews done with children were transferred to computer environment as raw data. Later a content analysis was done from these datas by forming available theme and code. In order to determine the reliability of analysis the opinions of three specialists were asked.  The researchers applied Kappa analysis to identify accordance and found out that accordance level is high. According to the findings obtained from this study, there reached a conclusion that as the age levels of children increases they perceive topological transformations better and they show a development according to age. As a result of this study, it is suggested to do studies relating if topological transformation shows development or not in earlier ages in case of supporting it in pre-school period.