Preschool Teachers' Lived Experience of Their Roles in the Game Process: A Phenomenology Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. in Curriculum Planning, University of Allameh Tabataba'i, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Educational technology, University of Allameh Tabataba'i, Tehran, Iran.

3 M.A. student of Educational Psychology, Azad University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Introductoin: Educators play different roles in the implementation of the game-based learning process with children, and the knowledge of their lived experiences in these roles provides the basis for a deeper understanding of the various roles of educators in the process of children's play. This study aims to analyze the lived experiences of preschool teachers regarding their roles in the process of playing with children.
Method: The research method was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The research population was the teachers of preschools in Tehran, and 14 teachers were selected as the sample of the study through the purposeful sampling method until the theoretical saturation of the data. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and analyzed with Colaizzi's (1987) seven-step method.
Results: The results of data analysis led to the identification of three main non-interventional, managerial, and interactional roles of preschool teachers in children's games, each of which had sub-sets.
Discussion and Conclusion: Teachers play different roles in the game according to the type and situation of the game. The roles of teachers in the game can be contracted in a process where at one end the role of coaches with the least amount of intervention and at the other end the role of the coaches with the highest amount of intervention. in which the coach takes over the management of the game process and in the middle of this spectrum is the role of participating coaches and interacting with children in the game. The findings of this study can provide a clear understanding of preschool teachers' experiences of their roles in the game-based learning process

Keywords

References

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