How to bring the topic of death and mourning closer to a child using an educational game

V diplomski nalogi predstavljamo smrt in žalovanje kot pomembno temo, ki je del vzgoje in izobraževanja otrok v predšolskem obdobju. V teoretičnem delu utemeljujemo, da je smrt del življenja ter da je potrebno otroku predstaviti jasne in razumljive informacije vezane na to temo, ob tem pa upoštevati otrokovo razvojno stopnjo in individualne značilnosti. Prav tako je pomembno, da odrasli dobro poznamo in razumemo procese žalovanja, tako pri odraslih kot pri otrocih, saj se proces žalovanja lahko prav tako razlikuje glede na starostno obdobje in druge okoliščine. Ugotavljamo tudi, da je še vedno premalo didaktičnih gradiv, ki se dotikajo te teme, zato smo v praktičnem delu naloge oblikovali in izdelali didaktično igro, ki lahko strokovnim delavcem v vrtcu in v začetnih razredih osnovne šole pomaga pri obravnavi te zahtevne tematike. Pri oblikovanju igre smo bili pozorni na posamezna didaktična načela (načelo nazornosti, načelo postopnosti, od lažjega k težjemu ipd.) ter na taksonomijo zahtevnostnih stopenj pri postavljanju vprašanj o temi smrt in žalovanje. Igro smo uporabili v skupini otrok starih od pet do šest let (N = 23), izmerili smo tudi učinke uporabe igre glede na znanje otrok. Rezultati so pokazali, da sta slikanica in didaktična igra ustrezna za drugo starostno obdobje ter da pripomoreta k učenju otrok o smrti in žalovanju. Z ocenjevanjem napredka v znanju otrok smo dokazali, da so nastale razlike v znanju pred in po načrtovani dejavnosti. S tem smo dosegli še en cilj diplomske naloge, in sicer prispevati kakovostno didaktično sredstvo, ki je lahko v pomoč vzgojiteljem in staršem oziroma vsem, ki delajo z otroki.The thesis presents death and mourning as important topics in the early childhood education. In the theoretical part, we argue that death is a part of life and that a child must receive clear and comprehensive information related to this subject, taking into account the child\u27s developmental level and individual characteristics. It is also important that adults have good knowledge of this topic and understand the mourning process, both in adults and in children, as the mourning process can also vary according to age bracket and other circumstances. We also note a lack of educational materials regarding this topictherefore, we created an educational game, which can help early childhood educators and teachers in the first triad of the primary school in dealing with this complex topic. We paid attention to certain didactic principles while developing the game (principle of descriptiveness, principle of graduality, from easier to harder, etc.) and to the taxonomy of difficulty levels when asking questions about death and mourning. We used the educational game in a group of children aged five to six (N = 23) and we measured the effects of the game depending on the children\u27s knowledge. The results show that the picture book and the educational game are appropriate for the children between 4 to 6 years and they contribute to teaching children about death and mourning. Knowledge assessment proved resulting differences in children’s knowledge before and after the planned activities. With this, we have achieved another aim of the thesis, namely, to contribute a quality educational tool that can help early childhood educators and parents, or all those working with children