Browsing by Author "Federley, Jenni"

The purpose of this thesis is to explore children's views of their physical learning environment. The aim is to take part from the child perspective in the discussion surrounding the development of learning environments. The study seeks to make children's viewpoints more visible and strengthen their role in both planning and evaluating their learning environments. The information that has been gathered in this thesis can be used in practice of pre-primary education to renew the existing praxis. The study concentrates on which elements of the physical learning environment children value and how does the interaction between a child and the environment show in their discourses. The theoretical base of this study is in transactional environmental psychology which emphasizes on the two-way interaction between a person and the environment. The elements of the physical learning environment are based on theoretical literature and the Finnish curriculum for pre-primary education. The interaction is examined based on the self-determination theory and themes of meaningfulness. The thesis was executed with qualitative methods by combining studies of child perspective and case study research. The research material consisted of photos and thematic interviews collected by children. The subjects were two classrooms designed for pre-primary education: the other was the children's own classroom and the other Playful Learning Center in the Teacher Education Department at the University of Helsinki. The research material was collected separately from both subjects. The photo material was coded and categorized by data based analysis. The transcribed interview material was categorized based on theory. The two classrooms differed in several respects in the children's accounts. In their own classroom the children took photos mostly of the toys, preschool associated material and their own lockers. The material showed how meaningful being part of a group and identifying oneself as a preschooler is when connecting with the environment. At the Teacher Education Department the children paid more attention to the colorful walls and activating furnishings. It could be seen that an indoor environment which supports physical activity can be motivating and exciting for children in pre-primary education. In their own classroom the children expressed strongly a type of intellectual competence over the environment. They also expressed strong group cohesion in their discourses. These factors can be seen significant in building a positive human-environment relationship. The experiences of competence were not as strong at the Teacher Education Department. Instead the children strongly brought up physical activity in their discourses. It could be associated with children's natural and meaningful ways of being.