Preschool children learn mostly by direct experience. They have internal motivation to explore and discover answers to their questions. Knowledge and expertise are easily and more successfully acquired by experiences, in which children are directly involved.
In my diploma I made a research on preschool children’s perception of dairy products and the sources of fresh milk and children’s attitude towards dairy food. I created and performed activities for children in nursery school. They learnt about milk and dairy products, their sources, milk production and its various usages in everyday nutrition by direct experience.
Children got information about milk sources and its characteristics and they made banana milk. They learnt about cream and made some butter. They also learnt about the meaning of microorganisms in the process of making dairy products. We made sour milk and used it to make cottage and cottage spread. We made yoghurt and added in it some fresh fruit. The last task was to make cheese by ourselves.
Before performing these activities, I interviewed children in experimental and control groups by using actual examples of dairy products. The interviews gave me the information if preschool children are familiar with various dairy products, their sources and characteristics. The analysis and the comparison with control group showed that children in the experimental group, which had learnt by direct experience and active learning, gained more knowledge on milk and dairy products. Their attitude towards dairy products became also more positive.
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