Preschool Teachers' Views on Digital Games

Abstract

The use of digital technology is very important to support children's learning and development in the preschool period. With the rapidly developing technology, the types of games played by children have also changed. Digital games have gradually replaced traditional games. According to the relevant literature, there are studies highlighting teachers' perceptions about the benefits and obstacles of the use of digital games. These studies mostly focused on primary, secondary, and high school education, and there are a limited number of studies covering preschool teachers. This study aims to investigate the opinions of preschool teachers regarding the integration of digital games into the educational process. The opinions of 20 preschool teachers were collected with a semi-structured interview form. The interview form consisted of two parts. While the first section includes demographic information about teachers, the second section includes questions about how preschool teachers perceive the opportunities and challenges related to digital games. Data was collected via Google Forms. The findings show that the teacher's role is critical in incorporating digital games into the educational process. In addition, it points out that teachers are an important guide in integrating the education process into the digital platform. Recommendations and implications for the use of digital games in classroom applications are discussed.