Learning about universe in kindergarten

Diplomsko delo opisuje dejavnosti, s katerimi otrokom omogočamo spoznavanje vesolja v vrtcu. V teoretičnem delu so predstavljene vsebine in metode dela, ki sem jih glede na otrokovo stopnjo mišljenja uporabila pri načrtovanju dejavnosti. Če vzgojitelj dobro pozna temo, ki jo obravnava v vrtcu, in otrokovo razvojno fazo, lahko izbere ustrezne metode dela, da otrokom lažje približa nove pojme in procese, ki se dogajajo v vesolju. V empiričnem delu so najprej predstavljeni rezultati raziskave otrokovega razumevanja vesolja pred izvedenimi načrtovanimi dejavnostmi. Zanimale so me predstave o Soncu, Luni ter planetih. Glede na ugotovljeno predznanje otrok sem načrtovala dejavnosti s tega področja. Pri tem sem upoštevala otrokov miselni razvoj in uporabljala metode, s katerimi sem predvidevala, da bom lahko otroke naučila čim več novega o vesolju. Te dejavnosti so predstavljene v osrednjem delu. V zadnjem delu predstavljam rezultate raziskave o otrokovem poznavanju Osončja in vesolja, ki so pokazali, da so otroci dobili pravilne predstave o telesih, ki se nahajajo v našem Osončju, in spoznali tudi določene procese, ki se v njem dogajajo. Za razumevanje procesov v vesolju pa bodo potrebovali več predznanja in miselnih sposobnosti.The diploma work describes activities that enable children in the kindergarten to learn about the universe. The theoretical part presents the contents and methods of work, which I used when planning the activities according to the child\u27s level of thinking. If the teacher knows the topic they are discussing in the kindergarten, and is familiar with the child’s developmental stage, they can choose appropriate working methods for helping children to understand new concepts and processes happening in space. The empirical part presents the results of a research about a child\u27s understanding of the universe. The research was carried out before the planned activities took place. I was interested in their ideas about the Sun, the Moon, and the planets. I planned activities in this field that were based on the children\u27s prior knowledge. In doing so, I took into account a child\u27s mental development, and used the methods that would presumably help me the most with teaching the children as many new things about the universe as possible. These activities are presented in the central part. In the last section, I present the results of a research about a child\u27s knowledge of the solar system and the universe. The results showed that the children had been given the correct perceptions about the bodies in our solar system. They also knew about certain processes that are happening in it, but they will require more knowledge and thinking skills for actually understanding the processes in space