Abstract:

The study aims to reveal the perceptions of children of the five-year-old pre-school period about environmental problems. The study was conducted by a phenomenology (phenomenology) method. The study included a total of 60 children from a 5-year-old group studying in three different state kindergartens. The data is collected by the chart-telling method and semi-configured conversations. In the analysis of the obtained data, the content and visual analysis methods have been used. The study found that students’ perceptions of environmental problems are made up of three categories: the situations they see as environmental problems, the causes of environmental problems and what should be done to solve environmental problems. The study found that children have the most perceptions of these three categories in the category of environmental problems, which followed the causes of environmental problems and what should be done to solve environmental problems. Students perceive the most surrounding waste as environmental problems, animal deaths, air pollution, sea pollution, green space pollution; the most surrounding waste as causes of environmental problems, the unconscious trees and the waste thrown into the seas; the most waste to be collected about what needs to be done to solve environmental problems, the most waste to be thrown into the waste. In addition, in children’s perception of environmental problems, the waste surrounding is in the first place in each of the three categories. The study suggested that teachers use different methods and techniques in environmental education given before school to develop children’s perceptions.

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