Opažanje, shvatanje i predstavljanje prostora kod dece predškolskog uzrasta
Observation, understanding and representation of space in preschool children

Summary/Abstract: Children orientation in space is significant for their overall development, as well as for the development of specific skills, which are important both for coping in everyday life and for success in particular school subjects (especially for reading, writing, arithmetic, art and physical education). Arrival of children to a kindergarten as an everyday life situation can provide valuable experiences for the development of orientation in space. The aim of this study is to determine how children perceive, understand and graphically represent the spacein which they move on daily basis. The research sample consisted of 156 subjects (children), 52 of them were four years old, and 52 of them were six years old, with equal proportion of girls and boys. All the children attended kindergartens in Novi Sad. The method of interviewing and drawing a roadmap from home to the kindergarten was applied in the research. The results of the research obtained by the analysis of responses to the questions and the analysis of the children’s drawings indicate that the children involved in the research relatively well perceive, understand and represent the space. However, this situation is not sufficiently used for improvement of children's understanding of the direction of movement and the use of symbols in space representation. We can conclude that adults should pay more attention to children's direct experience, to discussions with children about their perception of space and spatial relations. Also we would like to propose that it would be a great benefit if adults would more often encourage children to draw maps and use different symbols.

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