Browsing by Author "Haikarainen, Jessi-Emilia"

Objective. The objective of my research is to examine and describe different ways of inte-grating preschool content areas with physical education. The pros and cons of integrating content areas with physical education were also researched. The idea was to cover the views and ideas of one preschool teacher about integrating content areas with physical edu-cation. Methods. This research is qualitative and data was collected through semi-structured the-matic interview. For my research I interviewed one preschool teacher who works in a day care center with a focus on physical education. This makes my research a case study. I recorded, transcribed and analyzed the interview using the methods of qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. The interview proved that physical education is being utilized as a teaching method with this particular preschool group. Physical education is integrated with all preschool content areas, allthough language, interaction and mathematics were most em-phasized and with these content areas the physical education made learning more diverse and multisensory. The teacher felt that integrating content areas with physical education benefits the children through diverse learning and increased energy levels. The challenge was how to take to account all the individual development stages of each child and how to utilize the preschool environment.