Evaluation of Preschool Teachers' Use of Science Activities

The role of the educator is big when it comes to bringing scientific process skills to preschool children and improving positive attitudes towards children. Researches show that a major task falls to preschool teachers in planning and implementing science education. For this reason, teachers are the primary driving force in applying science activities in preschool education. Pre-school teachers' knowledge of science activities, the activities they organize and the methods they use are important. In this context, the purpose of the study is to identify preschool teachers' use of science activities. The sample of the research consists of 30 voluntary preschool education teachers in Nev？ehir City Center working up to the Provincial Directorate of National Education. The research has been carried out using case study design, one of the qualitative research method. Research is in the descriptive survey model. In this research which uses qualitative research method; structered interview form has been used. The necesessary permissons for the study have been received from Provincial Directorate of National Education. In the research, the collected data have been analyzed using the content analysis technique, one of the analysis techniques, included in the qualitative research methods. When the science activities organized by the teachers are investigated, it is seen that activities on books and magazines are the most preferred. When the findings related to frequency of science activities in daily plans of participants are examined, it has been revealed that teachers prefer to do science activities mostly once a week. When the findings related to teaching methods in science activities by teachers are considered, it has been found that all the participants use experiment method. This method is followed by equal observation, question-answer and visual material use respectively. Half of the participants have indicated that they have been using concept maps in science activities. The deficiencies of preschool teachers towards planning, conducting and evaluating science activities can be identified, in order to eliminate them, in-service training courses can be planned and workshop studies can be arranged under the guidance of specialists