This study aimed to determine preschool teachers' self-efficacy belief levels and their classroom management skills and to examine the relationship existing between them. The research, which was designed according to the correlational survey model, was conducted on 274 preschool teachers. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and correlational statistics were used to analyze the data collected via the "Self-Efficacy Belief Scale of Pre-Service Teachers" and "Classroom Management Skills Scale for Pre-Service Teachers". The findings of the study revealed that preschool teachers' self-efficacy belief levels and classroom management skills were high, and affected by teachers' age, seniority, type of school, and the number of children in the class. In addition, the findings of the study revealed that there were positive, moderate, and strong relationships between preschool teachers' self-efficacy and professional skills and classroom management skills. The moderate positive relationship between teachers' self-efficacy belief and classroom management skills showed that the qualities achieved in these two areas affected each other.

Question asking is an important skill that teachers should use during class activities. Teachers need to get used to this ability while they are teacher candidates. The aim of this research is to identify the cognitive taxonomy and the structure of the questions asked by the candidate of preschool teachers and to compare the questioning skills of preschool teacher candidates in Michigan, USA and Turkey. The participants were selected from people who are both senior students and have preschool teacher experience. The participant teacher candidates of the present study have stated that they have not taken a questioning skill course, but the topic was taught in some of the courses. In this research, we used document review, a kind of qualitative research technique. Document evaluation was based on question formation forms. The candidate of preschool teachers were asked to write questions on "Question Formation Form". The questions asked by participant teacher candidates were analyzed and the percent frequency tables of the questions are given. As a result, we observed that teacher candidates have mainly asked questions in the first three levels of the taxonomy. Our results also showed that the teacher candidates from Turkey have rarely asked application questions and candidates from the US have usually asked comprehension questions. When examining structure of the questions, the teacher candidates in Turkey asked more than twice as many close-ended questions than the teacher candidates in the US.

In this study, the play preferences of 80 five-year-old children, 40 girls and 40 boys, from four schools in Turkey and the characteristics that shape their preferred plays were examined. The research was designed by descriptive method, which is one of the qualitative research patterns, and the data were collected using draw-and-tell technique. Crayons and drawing papers were distributed to the children participating in the study and they were asked to draw a play they wanted to play. During the drawing, the children were interviewed by asking questions. Thematic analysis method was used in the study; open coding was performed to group the drawings and interview records of the children under the themes and sub-themes. As a result of thematic analysis, five main themes were created regarding the plays preferred by children and how and where they prefer to play them. The results showed that all children preferred open-ended plays, they mostly prefer modern plays (50%) (type of play), playing with friends (44%) (social connection), dynamic plays (69%) (physical function), indoors plays (54%) (playground) and to use ready-made toys (42%) (toys used).

Araştırmanın amacı, okul öncesi eğitim programı kapsamında hazırlanan millî oyun etkinliklerinin çocuklar üzerindeki etkisini ortaya koymaktır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda çocukların (i) bildikleri millî oyunları, (ii) oynamayı en çok sevdikleri, (iii) oynamakta en çok zorlandıkları ve (iv) aileleriyle oynadıkları millî oyunların ortaya konulması alt amaçları oluşturmaktadır. Yeni bir uygulamanın gerçekleştirilmesi ve bu uygulamaya ilişkin değerlendirmenin yapılması sürecini kapsayan işbirlikçi eylem araştırması ile millî oyunların okul öncesi eğitim programı içinde uygulanmış ve çocuklar üzerindeki etkisi değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmaya 60 çocuk katılmıştır. Araştırma sürecinde 38 farklı millî oyun bir yıllık eğitim süresince uygulanmıştır. Çocuklarla görüşme yapılmıştır. Araştırmada çocukların istekle oyunları oynadıklarının gözlenmesi, öğretmenlerin olumlu değerlendirmeleri ve çocukların millî oyunları çoğunlukla ifade etmeleri, kültürel aktarımın gerçekleştiğini göstermektedir. Çocukların en çok sevdiği oyunlar "misket" ve "saklambaç"; oyunları sevmelerinin nedenlerini "eğlenmeleri" ve "oyunların oynanış şekli"; en çok zorlandıkları oyun "beş taş" ve "saklambaç"; aileleriyle de bazı millî oyunları oynadıkları sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır. Sonuçlar değerlendirildiğinde millî oyunların çocukların ilgi ve algıları üzerinde etkili olduğu görülmüştür.

In the research, an explanatory case study was carried out which is a kind of qualitative research. By presenting a model implementation, how to create outdoor centers and teachers' views on the designed model are introduced with the purpose of making a contribution to teachers and preschool education institutions. Within this framework, by receiving opinions of teachers, an outdoor space design was made, and by the end of a 2 month work, 12 centers (art, music, playing house, writing, balance, eye-hand coordination, vegetable, fruit, book, performance, sensory) were created in the garden of research and application kindergarten of a university. After 6 teachers used the design in the 2 month education period, their opinions are received. Teachers expressed the efficiency of center designs in the garden in terms of supporting children's development and implementing educational programs. Model implementation was described in detail and was discussed with the related body of literature. A design was made regarding how center implementation which will support children development in the best way can be formed using low-cost waste and natural material. The model is thought to raise awareness about putting outdoor space in good use.