Play can create a safe environment for children to escape from worries. The global COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders were stressful events for young children and families. This case study documents children's and parents' play, emotions and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Five mothers and their young children participated in our study, and we used the Parent Play Preferences Questionnaire (PPPQ), a semi-structured interview, and mother-child tasks for data collection in the Summer of 2020. Findings showed young children's daily activities and play changed, and both mothers and children experienced various emotions. Children were aware of the precautions taken to protect themselves from COVID-19, and they attempted to keep the play characters safe in their play. Children reported missing friends, school, playgrounds and playing with others. Our study highlights the importance of parent-child conversations and play to cope with unexpected events in children's lives and captures children's voices in early childhood education research.

Instead of focusing on testing, content, and accountability, teacher education programs should be helping preservice teachers focus on the heart and soul of teaching. Thus, helping them as they continue their spiritual journey of becoming a teacher. Although there are many ways that teacher educators can support preservice teachers, in this chapter, we argue that service-learning, with its emphasis on social responsibility, is a promising approach.

In this article, the authors examine service-learning through multiple lenses. First, the authors provide a historical perspective of service-learning, with deep roots in the settlement houses, primarily associated with the African American community. Second, the authors examine the theoretical underpinnings of service-learning, and how, through the work of theorists such as Dewey (1916), it has become a pedagogy in many institutions in the United States. Finally, the authors draw on the work of Mitchell (2008) and other critical service-learning scholars as they look at the next steps of service-learning and experiential education.

This study examined the relationship between young children’s cognitive development and fathers’ engagement in early childhood. The study examined fathers’ home engagement patterns based on literacy, play, and caregiving activities when their children were 9-month-old and these patterns of engagement in 9-month-old were related to children’s cognitive development in preschool. Latent class analysis (LCA) procedure was used to create subgroups/classes of fathers based on their actual engagement. The study employed multiple data sources from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). The data sources include a self-administered resident father survey, direct child assessment, and parent interviews. The results of the study suggested that there were five distinct classes of fathers based on their actual engagement. A total of 6.200 fathers were included in the analysis to create father classes. In the regression analysis, a total 0f 4.800 children were included. Although father classes were mostly similar, there were two distinct father classes with different actual engagement patterns based on child’s gender. Although, the class of fathers with the highest likelihood of engaging their infant girls had a negative effect on girls’ literacy and mathematics scale score in preschool, the results regarding children’s later educational outcomes were mixed.

Developing positive attitudes towards science and scientific process skills at an early age enables children to become more successful in the fields of science. However, in order to provide this education in early years, it is necessary to use scientific concepts correctly and appropriately by teachers and parents. This study investigated the effects of STEM-based science education practices on the science conceptual changes of preservice teachers. One-phase experimental embedded pattern design, one of the mixed-method research, was used in the study. The study group consisted of 20 (16 women, 4 men) preservice teachers (PST) who were enrolled in an undergraduate course titled Science Activities for Preschoolers. In addition, data were collected from the Science Concepts Form, STEM-based science activities plans, and application videos. The study results showed that STEM-based science activities positively impacted the science-related conceptual changes of preservice teachers. Especially, preservice teachers’ conceptual changes were increased in stone and soil, living and non-living thnigs, and force, motion and balances concepts. Furthermore, it has been determined that this program supported teachers in correcting misconceptions in different science subjects (ex. Earth and space science, life science, physical science) and using concepts correctly. The study results suggested that STEM-based science education practicess are important for teacher’s science understanding and using in classroom.

This study examined the nature and extent of the involvement of Turkish fathers in the lives of their preschool aged children. A survey instrument was developed and administered to a sample of 84 Turkish fathers of preschool aged children. The survey was designed to measure the amount of time that fathers and children spend together, the types of activities they engage in, and factors that could be related to father involvement (e.g. age, education, income, and work hours). The findings suggest that fathers’ occupation type, monthly income, number of years they have been married, number of children in the family, and fathers’ work hours are associated with the nature and extent of their involvement with their children. The results are discussed with reference to fathers’ accessibility, responsibility and engagement.

In this study relationships between preservice early childhood teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their mentor teachers’ mentoring were examined. Quantitative research method was used in the study by the using multivariate data collections. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) was administered to 96 pre-service teachers and mentor teachers. Time spent teaching and observing science was recorded also recorded by participants by the using time trackers. The Mentoring for Effective Science Teaching (MEST) instrument measured perceptions of the teachers’ mentoring activities, including modeling and feedback. Correlational analyses estimated the relationship between the preservice and mentor teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, beliefs and time spent teaching, and beliefs and modeling and feedback. The findings suggest that mentor teachers play an important role in the preparation of preservice teachers, and that this role is particularly true for those mentors with higher science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. It also showed that how teaching practices have significant roles while preparing future teachers. For teacher education program could be pay attention to teaching practices while giving a decision for choosing mentor teachers. For future researchers may also look at the different sections of mentoring practices and their impacts on preservice teacher’s teaching skills.

This study investigated the effects of two different classroom contexts, sociodramatic play and a teacher led activity, on children’s use of verbal communication. Additionally, the effect of children’s gender on their use of verbal communication was examined. Participants in the study were 24 children between the ages of 37 and 55 months old, who were attending two preschools located in the northern part of the state of Florida, USA. The data collection was completed through observation of children’s play and teacher-led reading-retelling-drawing activities. Children were observed on two occasions for each activity, and the total observation time was 40 minutes per child. Sociometric Interview, Leaper’s (1991) discourse patterns categories, and Halliday’s (1973) seven types of language demands were used as instruments to collect data in the study. Data analyses were completed by using Descriptive and repeated measurements and ANOVA statistical techniques. According to the findings, children use language to serve a variety of functions during different classroom activities. In the play context (open) language is used mostly to serve imaginative and interactional functions. In the closed-field context, where the interaction was led by the teacher, the most common language function used by the children was informative language. Five out of seven (Regulatory, personal, imaginative, informative, interactional); and one out of four discourse patterns (Control) were used in different frequencies within play and teacher contexts.

What kind of digital content is available for children in Turkey? How are Turkish parents deciding rules about screen time and tablet use? What do children use tablets for? Burcu Izci and colleagues compare young children’s tablet use in Turkey and the US, and also the extent to which parents limit children’s access to tablet devices. Burcu Izci and Yasin Yalcin are PhD candidates at Florida State University (USA); Tugba Bahcekapili is a PhD candidate at the Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and a research assistant at the Karadeniz Technical University (Turkey); and Dr Ithel Jones is a professor at Florida State University.

Service learning is defined as a teaching and learning method that connects meaningful community service with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. In recent years, service learning has been presented as an effective pedagogy for early childhood education. This chapter will present a rationale for integrating service learning into early childhood education. Theoretical perspectives drawn largely from cognitive psychology and social learning theories will be considered along with national standards for effective practices in early childhood and teacher education. Then, drawing on these theories, principles for effective integration of service learning into early childhood teacher education will be outlined.

The purpose of the study was to examine the influences of age, family socio-economic status (SES), and parents’ food knowledge on preschool, kindergarten, and second grade students’ conceptual understanding of food and nutrition. Fifty-two parent–child dyads, consisting of 17 preschoolers, 17 kindergartners, and 18 second graders participated in the study. Parents completed a self-administered survey at home and the children were interviewed at school sites. We found the significant age effects on children’s conceptual understanding of food. Specifically, significant differences were found in total food knowledge between preschool and second-grade students, the food-body and food-fat knowledge scores between preschool and second grade students, and between kindergarten and second grade students. SES family background had no significant impact on children’s conceptual understanding of food. No clear correlation was found for food knowledge between children and their parents.