Research for evaluating perception of concrete material by using visual research methods in learning environments

While perceptual-cognitive and social-emotional processes develop from birth to adulthood, the school environment has a vital importance in children’s psychology and relationships with their environment. Considering the fact that most of the learning processes are spent in the school environments in the process of child development, the importance of research on these environments becomes evident. The field study which is presented within the article aims to reveal the attitudes and preferences of the students between the ages of 6-7 whose cognitive processes are in the development stage and to evaluate their perceptual performance of concrete material in learning environments. In this study, two classroom environments with differentiated interior materials modeled with VR technology were evaluated. The first classroom is designed in accordance with the “Minimum Design Standards Guide for Educational Buildings in Turkey”, while the other classroom is designed as an alternative where concrete material is dominant as an interior design element. In the analyzed definitions, it was seen that the students’ responses focused on the situational characteristics of the environment and the materials, illumination and cognitive factors remained in the background. This situation is considered as the pre-operational period of children in this age group concentrate on the identifiable objects they see rather than their own emotions and personal interpretations. In addition, the study showed that the physical environment was effective in the perception of the objects that it surrounds, and that the objects with the same properties can be perceived differently within different physical environments.