Preschool Children’s Perspectives on School Environments: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Taiwanese Children’s Drawings

This study compared rural and urban Taiwanese preschoolers’ perspectives on their school environments using children’s drawings, focusing on similarities and differences in the characteristics depicted. Sixty children aged 5–6 years participated, including 27 rural and 33 urban children. They were recruited from two public preschools across eight classrooms. In both groups, children’s monthly age, gender, and family socioeconomic status were similar. Drawings were quantitatively analyzed across three aspects: people, the natural environment, and the learning environment. Results revealed both shared and distinctive characteristics. Across groups, children seldom depicted adults or academic activities but frequently included weather-related elements and school buildings. For people, rural children were more likely to draw peers, whereas urban children more often drew themselves. For the natural environment, rural children more frequently depicted animals and plants. For the learning environment, rural children more often represented off-campus play activities, whereas urban children tended to depict on-campus play activities and symbols such as numerals and arrows. These findings suggest that children’s drawings reflect how children perceive and emotionally engage with their school environments, highlighting both similarities and differences between rural and urban contexts. Implications for multicultural early childhood education are discussed in relation to children’s lived experiences.