Bilmecelerin Eğitimdeki Yeri ve Önemi

Introduction Perhaps one of the most important existential aims of an individual is to explore and understand the meaning to life. This case has posed the question, to search for answers. This searching has sometimes happened in the way of simple and clear questions, but more often in the way of a difficult and complicated path that has no clear destination. Humanity is will continue to ask questions and search for answers until our sense of wonder and drive for exploration dies out (Balta, 2013, 892). To have knowledge and understand the world has become a defining characteristic of our species, one that makes us powerful as individuals and has leaded us to develop an information society. The emphasis of information and knowing which have been spreading for many years has transformed knowledge into a substantial treasure. Truth has been put into service sometimes loud and clear, and sometimes hidden behind images, metaphors and art. When truth is portrayed through images, metaphors and art, we often define this presentation as riddle. This study aims to evaluate the contribution of riddles, one of the primary works of verbal literature, which will help the linguistic and intellectual development of children by enriching their linguistic material in education. Because riddles often contain various metaphoric texts within themselves, riddles must be examined multilaterally. The fact that riddles develop the vocabulary of an individual and push us to think in non-linear ways constitutes the subject of this study. In this context, the relationship between riddle and education is examined through works performed in literature. Riddle Concept The work of Turkish Folk Literature contains the output of thousands of years of life, experience, pleasure and, most importantly, the national perception and thought processes of the Turkish people. This output is the cultural treasure of the Turkish people and defines the sensitivity of our people within themselves. Turkish Folk Literature contains plenty of images and forms, but one of the most important, formed both in poetry and prose, is the riddle. Riddles ask questions related to all kinds of objects and ideas, customarily in a space and time, undertaking various functions, incorporating some characteristics related to the object or idea, delivered either in a poetic or prose structure, intended to prompt reasoning and stimulate the attention of the addressee. The answers to these riddles are often a word, suitable for the expectations of the society to which they belonged, accepted without in depth discussion in that society. Of these answers, “plenty of” them have a poetic expression and “many of” them are composed of stereotyped expressions, understood like a question by those who know that tradition in spite of not taking the standard form of a traditional question sentence (Türkyılmaz, 2007, 22).and Education Human beings haves been trying to understand and ascribe meaning to the environment in which they live, the formal and informal organizations to which they belong, other people, life, the world, the known and unknown, and in short, the entire universe, since the beginning of time. This meaning seeking has enabled modern people to evolve by contributing to the global fund of knowledge for generations. This fund has revealed the concept of trainability, one of the most important characteristics of humanity, and education both by being transferred through genes in biological sense and conveyed from generation through oral and written traditions. Learning is a social activity, so education is a process that affects the life of every human being from birth until death. In this sense, education transforms individual people and society, at large, through the growth of every individual. Hence, education plays a critical role in shaping future societies. This circumstance makes education one of the most emphasized and discussed subjects (Yılmaz, 2009, 1). Education is a subject that needs proper emphasis. This concept must be separated from traditional stereotyped definitions to better understand national and international dynamics, trends, cultural and national facts, international integration, social values and, simply, to build a more prosperous future. The changing face of education allows individuals to ask questions, research hypotheses and, at the same time, find pleasure in the pursuit of knowledge. Some programs render the educational environment more charming by diversifying educational arguments. These arguments can be seen on a large scale in the tradition of Turkish folk literature. In this context, such literary works like poems, ballads, fairy tales, lullabies and riddles are used largely in child education. Riddles have been an important part of Turkish Folk Literature through different stages of society, right up through the modern day. Because riddles have many distinct aspects that can benefit education and training fields, it is repeated frequently and importantly that riddles should be included in the modern educational system (Balta, 2013, 893). Another aspect of riddles that make them important for education is that they have an entertainment feature. This allows children to demonstrate participation in learning activities in a more active way. Riddles are versatile products that can teach us about anything, even the most abstract concepts that we encounter in daily life. By asking about objects, concepts or situations, riddles both test our knowledge and give information about these things (İçel, 2005, 269). Conclusion The riddle is one of the most important products of insight into human beings. In what way can we benefit from riddles in Turkish education? Riddles containing interesting elements that help to develop vocabulary and prompt us to think, which makes riddles a great tool to be used in education. Besides this, they are verbal products that prompt students to learn with an aspect of entertainment. In primary programs, riddles are only emphasized for this entertainment aspect, while their educational function is too often ignored. Therefore riddles should be handled by highlighting their educational side and provided to take advantage of these products in primary programs. The fact that educational arguments are enriched will prevent students from being bored by avoiding banality and monotony in their lessons. Riddles have a structure that should be desired among educational arguments, due to the fact that they have interesting expressions, poetic structures, memorability and often deal with interesting subjects. Owing to this structure, they will both make easier learning and provide permanence. Riddles can make great contributions to the mental development of children because they prompt children to think. When children perceive the riddle, truly understand the task and try to find the answer, they will activate their brains. By trying to solve a riddle, students try to make lexical contacts, and reason by themselves on the basis of connotations and similarities (Önür, 2012, 44). Like all literary works, the impact of riddles on language is significant. In the education and training process, the main contribution of riddles is seen in vernacular language education. Riddles can be used as a tool to stimulate a love of vernacular language to children in preschool and early primary school periods. In primary school, lessons should be performed in a game atmosphere not to become boring. This is because children don’t want to break loose from game; they want to carry it to the class in these periods. The fact that riddles are carried to the class as part of games facilitates their use as an effective and remarkable educational tool for children. Children warmed up for lesson by this way will be better prepared to learn. In early primary school periods, riddles can be used as exercises for the purpose of learning to pronounce of words properly. In the context of language acquisition, another distinct characteristic of riddles is their power to enrich the vocabulary of children. Riddles often present an interesting simile and depict peculiar connotations, with rich word usage that make them a substantial source for enriching vocabulary (Balta, 2013, 893). It is quite important to develop of a child’s vocabulary in language achievement, as a child knows the world through the number of words he knows. Therefore a child’s knowledge about the world and active comprehension skills can be measured with his vocabulary (Yıldız, Okur, Arı & Yılmaz, 2010, 31). Having a rich vocabulary enables children to express themselves truthfully and properly in social environments, and facilitates their work in new learning surroundings. The imaginary and artistic structures of riddles make their expression stronger. This characteristic will give rise to students making sense of clues given in the text, to take advantage of connotations, to improve their problem-solving and creative thinking skills during the search of answer. Riddles are beneficial in educational environments owing to the fact that they will help the development of linguistic and mental skills, and they should be better integrated at all levels of education.