Browsing by Author "Witick, Sirpa"

The aim of this study was to examine pre-school children's learning and well-being. Interest in mindfulness and its benefits has been the starting point of this study. One purpose was to find out how mindfulness training would be suitable for supporting the well-being and learning of pre-school children. In this study, mindfulness is approached especially from the perspective of bringing awareness to ones senses. For this reason, this study focuses on multisensory learning. The development of children´s sensory integration is one of the reasons why multisensory learning is important. This study will explain which of the different senses are used during the pre-school sessions and how a kindergarten teacher directs children's attention to different sensations during pre-school sessions. In addition, this study explains how consciously a kindergarten teacher has thought of multisensory learning while planning the pre-school activities. This study is a qualitative case study. It was conducted by observing a group of pre-school children for a period of one week. The kindergarten teacher of this group was interviewed twice. The observation was conducted with the help of a self-made observation form as well as by videotaping the pre-school group’s activities. The method used in the interview was a theme interview. The result of this study was that pre-school sessions focused on activities which were based on hearing or seeing. Children also had the opportunity to use the sense of touch, smell or kinesthesia during the week’s pre-school sessions. Pre-school sessions turned out to be multisensory but the operational environment was a determining factor on multisensory activities. One research result to be considered is that multisensory learning was not new in this particular kindergarten, although the kindergarten teacher considered it as a new thing and as something she needs to practice more.