Previous studies have shown relations between the emergence of theory of mind capacities and children's scientific reasoning in Western samples. Previous studies have also shown that Turkish preschoolers have a different trajectory for theory of mind development than their Western counterparts. This study extends these previous findings to examine relations between the emergence of false belief understanding and different facets of scientific reasoning in Turkish preschoolers (aged 3 to 5), particularly focused on the difference between understanding others' false belief and one's own representational change. Study 1 revealed a positive relation between preschoolers' capacity to infer another's false belief and their experimentation skills when unconfounded interventions were presented to them. This finding did not extend to children's ability to report their own representational change. Study 2, however, showed that this relation with false belief did not extend to a case in which children had to design their own interventions to implement the control of variables strategy. The results suggest links between children's understanding of false belief and their nascent scientific reasoning among Turkish preschoolers.

This study examined the concurrent validity of a novel, three-stage blue-yellow-green (BYG) task by analyzing its relation with established measures of executive functions, working memory, and fluid intelligence in preschool-aged children. A sample of 318 children (n = 138, 4-year-olds; n = 180, 5-year-olds) completed the BYG task along with a battery of cognitive assessments, including the day and night task, peg-tapping task, dimensional change card sort, a battery of memory tasks, and Raven's colored progressive matrices. Correlational analyses established concurrent validity, and independent samples t tests examined age-related performance differences. The BYG task demonstrated strong convergent validity with other measures of inhibition and cognitive flexibility, as well as robust divergent validity. As expected, 5-year-olds significantly outperformed 4-year-olds on the BYG task and nearly all other cognitive measures, confirming developmental sensitivity. A key finding was a developmental shift in the relation between executive functions and fluid intelligence: for 4-year-olds, performance on the BYG Stage 2 (cognitive flexibility) was the strongest predictor of Raven's scores, whereas for 5-year-olds, performance on the BYG Stage 3 (abstract rule integration) was the strongest predictor. The findings support the BYG task as a valid, reliable, and developmentally sensitive measure for assessing executive functions in preschoolers.

Recent studies suggest that Turkish preschoolers exhibit a different pattern of theory of mind development than Western samples, particularly with respect to understanding the diversity of beliefs and knowledge acquisition. The present study posits that such differences extend to distinctions between understanding others' false belief and one's own representational change. Across two experiments, we found that preschoolers in Türkiye (n = 493; 249 Girls and 244 Boys) showed superior performance when asked a question about their own representational change compared with their understanding of another's false belief. These findings support the hypothesis that Turkish children attend to different facets of their own mental states, which might influence reasoning about their own representational change differently from others' false belief.

This study investigated the potential relations between the level of science content in early learning curricula and science achievement scores in fourth grade. A multilevel analysis of data from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), involving 180,651 participants, revealed a long-term relationship between science learning opportunities in preschool and higher science achievement by fourth grade. The findings of this study suggest that science content coverage in preschool, and possibly the related early science learning experiences associated with it, might not be consequential for children's later science achievement, particularly for boys, in countries with high science content coverage. High-quality elementary science learning opportunities might offset a lack of early science learning opportunities.

This study examined parents' beliefs and potential links with their children's (1) interest in science, (2) competence in learning science, and (3) science learning opportunities offered to their children. The study included a sample of 1,490 parents who had young children enrolled in U.S. preschool (3 years old, 55.9%) and pre-kindergarten (4 years old, 44.1%) classes. Data were collected via online surveys, which included three components: Perceived Science Motivation for Children-Parents Form, Parental Expectation and Support for Learning Science Questionnaire, and socio-demographic questions about parents and their children. Based on rankings of science and other curricular areas, parents' responses were classified into three groups: Low, Moderate, and High Preference for Science. Few parents prioritized science over other curricular areas in early learning classrooms, and parents' preferences for science were not associated with their incomes, levels of education, or the children's ages or sex. Parents' gender, however, was related to their preferences for science. Their beliefs about children's interest in science and competence to learn science were associated with home science resources, science-related conversations, and parental preferences for learning science in early childhood classrooms. Results from this study suggest that parents' beliefs about children's interest in science and competence to learn science predict the science learning opportunities provided to their children.

The aim of this study is to develop a teacher self-efficacy scale for inclusion in elementary education. In the study descriptive survey model was used. The sample of the study consisted of teacher candidates studying in the field of pre-school and classroom education in Turkey and teachers working in kindergartens, preschools and primary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education. A total of 332 people, 229 from the field of pre-school and 103 from the field of classroom education, participated in the study. Within the scope of the study, the 46-item tool named “Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale for Inclusiveness in Basic Education (TEKÖZ)” was created by obtaining expert opinion. “Principal Components Analysis” and “Confirmatory Factor Analysis” were conducted for the developed scale. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that the “Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale for Inclusiveness in Basic Education (TEKÖZ)” consisted of three factors named “Collaboration, Classroom Management, and Teaching” and 22 items. The reliability coefficient for the entire scale is α=0.87. It has been determined that the developed tool is suitable for measuring the self-efficacy of teachers and teacher candidates at the basic education level regarding inclusiveness.

This study provides evidence that what happens in preschool (i.e., preschool curriculum) can have long-term consequences years later. In the current study, we seek to answer the question of whether the inclusion of science in the preschool curriculum is associated with fourth- and eighth grade science achievement scores. Based on science achievement data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2015 and 2019 cycles), the quality of preschool science learning opportunities showed long-term impacts on science achievement at the fourth grade level. Even after controlling for enrollment rates, the quality of the preschool curricula was a statistically significant predictor of fourth grade science scores with a high effect size (d=0.74). The observed impacts, however, appeared to diminish by eighth grade. Results from this study suggest that science concepts and skills should be an integral part of preschool curricula and curricular frameworks, and policy makers should allocate resources to provide well-designed preschool education programs with high quality curricula.

Cet article présente une synthèse des recherches sur le développement des conceptions enfantines quant au mécanisme des précipitations et des phénomènes associés. Après avoir mentionné pour rappel les travaux de Piaget sur les conceptions des phénomènes météorologiques de 5 à 11 ans, les auteurs présentent les résultats d’études récentes sur les théories naïves d’enfants d’âge préscolaire quant aux origines des nuages, à la formation des précipitations et aux phénomènes de condensation et d’évaporation. Les résultats de la littérature suggèrent que les idées et les explications émergentes des enfants concernant les phénomènes météorologiques sont souvent en contradiction avec les explications scientifiques. Néanmoins, les enfants pourraient comprendre le cycle de l’eau et le mécanisme des précipitations avant l’école primaire, dès 5 ans à l’école maternelle, notamment s’ils sont aidés à mettre en relation les nuages et la pluie en termes de cycle de l’eau, ce qu’ils ne font pas spontanément à cet âge. La synthèse mentionne ainsi la pertinence des stratégies pédagogiques adaptées au développement, basées sur des discussions en classe à partir d’observations de la forme et de la couleur des nuages ou sur des activités associées à des livres d’images. Cinq directions de recherche sont finalement identifiées par les auteurs : des études longitudinales pour examiner les progressions d’apprentissage des enfants, des investigations sur l’expérience d’apprentissage dans et hors du contexte familial, l’effet du genre dans l’apprentissage précoce des sciences, les facteurs culturels et géographiques influençant les conceptions des enfants et les stratégies d’enseignement efficaces qui favorisent les compréhensions enfantines du mécanisme des précipitations.

This chapter examines research literature from the most recent decade that focuses on science education during the early childhood years, with a goal of elucidating recent developments and new directions in the field. It looks across a wide range of studies to find patterns and themes in the literature, guided by the goal of drawing implications with relevance for future research, teacher education, and teaching practice. Opportunities for science education at early childhood levels can support children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, building from children’s curiosities to provide foundations for later science learning. Early childhood research in science education has continued to focus on components of practices that are developed independently from the content, called process skills, such as asking questions, observing, recording observations, comparing, identifying patterns, and communicating. School cultures shape what can be accomplished in science education, and classroom cultures that orient toward science inquiry provide opportunity for young children to learn science through open-ended and authentic opportunities.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to measure basic biotechnology knowledge, examine the psychometric properties of the scale, and investigate whether there are differences in the test performances of high school students in terms of school, grade, and gender. The development phase of this scale was carried out with a sample of 388 high school students in a province in the west of Turkey. The psychometric properties of the scale were examined using the Rasch model. The K-R internal consistency coefficient of the final scale consisting of 17 items was calculated as 0.77. It was observed that item-total correlations varied between 0.25 and 0.48 except for one item (item 1, 0.13). The results of the Rasch analysis indicated that the scale fits the Rasch model and can differentiate low and high performing test takers. Three-Way ANOVA results demonstrated a significant main effect for the school. There were no statistically significant differences for grade and gender variables in terms of their biotechnology knowledge scores. However, the grade*gender interaction was statistically significant favoring males with small effect size. This observed effect was possibly due to uneven sample size of 12th grade students. The overall results suggest that the Basic Biotechnology Knowledge Scale (BBKS) can be used to assess the knowledge level of high school students.

Over the past two decades, science has increasingly become an integral part of early childhood curricula, and research on teaching and learning science in early years has emerged as an established field of study. Collectively, the findings of a growing body of literature suggest that introducing science in developmentally appropriate ways may support young children’s learning of science concepts and scientific thinking skills. The increasing number of edited volumes and special issues, including this one, devoted to the topic of early childhood science teaching and learning indicates that early science education, as a field of study, will continue to attract researchers from early childhood and science education as well as educational and cognitive psychology.

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society (JCES) was founded as a product of collective thought under the leadership of Dr. Mehmet Toran in July 2019 by a group of early childhood researchers who conduct both collaborative and independent academic research. Under the light of scientific research, current publishing policies cannot eliminate inequalities in public access for transfer and access of knowledge that is generated for the public weal (Beall, 2013). Particularly, having a limited access to the knowledge in early childhood studies is acknowledged as the first step for constitution of JCES. In this context, we would like to underline that independent researchers who are voluntarily taking part in the emergence of JCES are involved in a very courageous endeavour. This collective constitution takes an important responsibility for the public as well, and we point out that to fulfil this responsibility, it embraces moral and ethical rules as a reference point. Objectives, scope and ethical principles of JCES are determined with the contribution of the editorial board. In addition, we make promise to the larger research community of early childhood area that we will make sure to contribute to the area by giving a priority to high quality of research with robust evidence. JCES adopts open science perspective in early childhood studies. Therefore, JCES has a high opinion of sharing the knowledge among people who are in children’s ecology democratically. Attaching importance to open science policy, JCES defends scientific knowledge as public property that should be shared with all without depressing its value (Tonta, 2015). In the light of this target, -as JCES editorial board- we believe that scientific information that has been produced as public property should be shared with everyone through open access. The scientific communication enhanced between researchers-practitioners-readers is aimed to put into practice through the “open access” method. In this context, as open access policy within JCES, we embraced non-profit, voluntary editorial operations without charging a fee either from the reader or authors. Our experiences during publishing our first issue promise that it can be put into practice with a collective movement voluntarily on a digital platform. Solidarity is possible to carry out editorial process not only in Turkey but also with a contribution from every corner of the world. We have given extra importance to research ethics as our publishing policy. While specifying ethical principles, we aimed to take researcher’s attention to this issue. In this sense, after discussions with EECERA and then with the permission from Trustees of EECERA, we decided to embrace EECERA Ethical Code for Early Childhood Researchers that is formulated by Chris Pascal, Tony Bertram, Julia Formosinho, Colette Gray and Margy Whalley (2012). The ethical code bears qualification as a guide for researchers working in the early childhood area. We would like to indicate that applicant articles to the JCES are also evaluated in terms of those ethical codes during the editorial preliminary consideration process. After calling for papers for the inaugural issue, we had a considerable amount of article applications. Those applications studiously evaluated by the referees after preliminary considerations. In this process, constructive feedback from the referees and the revisions authors made in consideration to given feedback contributed to quality of articles concurrently to the quality of the journal. Peer review process that is held studiously, on time and constructively demonstrated that solidarity is built correctly and truthfully. Therefore, we would like to especially thank the referees for the inaugural issue. As you will see in the journal, there are six articles for the inaugural issue from five different countries: Belgium, Colombia, Israel, Tanzania and the USA. This variety is a result of effective publicity of the journal by editorial board and efficient use of digital platforms with open access policy. Besides that, especially the call for papers announcements by EECERA in their member mail groups and social media accounts demonstrated once more how important solidarity is. As a result of this solidarity and cooperation, we would like to underline that the geographical variety of applicant articles strengthen our faith and self-confidence as well. After publishing first issue, we will continue pertinaciously working to strengthen international collaborations and to ensure continuity of the journal. Being aware of responsibility we are carrying and the risks we may face in the process, we would like to state that we have already taken necessary precautions. To ensure long running path and continuity of publishing for the journal, Gizem Alvan, Kerem Avcı and Taibe Kulaksız - doctorate students- have already started gaining experience in journal publishing and editorial administration process. These experiences would play an important role to provide sustainable publication of the journal. We would like to congratulate them to take part in a constitution courageously. We would like to thank all partners who contributed to spreading information to publish interest with open access with their articles and their supports in the editorial process for the inaugural issue. We would like to state that the call for papers continues for the second issue of JCES which will be published in August 2020 and we are open to early childhood researchers’ original contributions.

Biyoteknoloji bilimi, dünyanın geleceği açısından çok önemlidir. Bu nedenle toplumun her bireyinin günlük yaşamında kullanabilmesine yetecek ölçüde doğru biyoteknoloji bilgisine sahip olması gereklidir. Bu gereklilik doğrultusunda bu çalışmada, ortaöğretim öğrencilerinin Biyoteknoloji ve Gen Mühendisliği konusu ile ilgili bilgi düzeylerini belirlemek için bir ölçek geliştirmek amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmada öncelikle Biyoteknoloji Bilgi ve Kavramlar Anketi (BKBA) oluşturulmuştur. BKBA'nın uygulanması sonucu elde edilen veriler doğrultusunda dört aşama sonunda 30 sorudan oluşan Ortaöğretim Biyoteknoloji Bilgi Testi (OBBT) geliştirilmiştir. OBBT’nin örnekleme uygunluğu, ölçekten elde edilen puanların güvenirliği ve geçerliği Rasch analizi ile kontrol edilmiştir. Bunun sonucunda geliştirilen; ölçek tek boyutludur (Tüm maddelerin infit-outfit değerleri .05 ile 1.2 arasındadır), ölçeğin yapı geçerliliği uygundur, ölçekten elde edilen puanların güvenirliği .73' dür, ölçeği oluşturan maddelerin bilen ile bilmeyeni ayırt edebilecek güçte olduğu (madde ayırtedicilik indeksi 1.67' dir.) test edilmiştir, ölçekte yanlı madde yoktur. Ayrıca uzman görüşleri doğrultusunda ölçme aracının kullanışlı ve kapsam geçerliğinin uygun olduğuna karar verilmiştir.

Sesli kitap okuma etkinliklerinin çocukların okuma ve yazma becerilerinin gelişiminde ve ilerleyen yıllardaki okuma başarıları üzerinde etkilidir. Bu çalışmada ebeveynlerin evde çocuklarına düzenli kitap okumalarının çocuklarının yazı farkındalıkları üzerindeki etkisini incelemek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini Balıkesir il merkezinde yaşayan orta sosyo-ekonomik düzeydeki uygun örnekleme yolu ile seçilmiş okul öncesi çağda 20 çocuk (7 erkek, 13 kız) ve anneleri oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada tek grup ön test - son test deney öncesi desen kullanılmıştır. Çalışma grubundaki çocuklara ön test ve son test olarak Erken Çocukluk Dönemi Yazı Farkındalığı Kontrol Listesi uygulanmıştır. Çalışmada kitap okuma teknikleri konusunda bir eğitim verilmeksizin annelerden toplam 8 adet resimli kitabı haftada iki kez okumaları istenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda annelerin ev ortamında çocuklarına sadece düzenli (nitelikli çocuk kitabı ile) kitap okuduğunda bile çocukların yazı farkındalığı becerilerinde artış olduğu saptanmıştır. Ebeveynlere yönelik farklı okuma tekniklerine ilişkin eğitim programlarının çocukların erken okur yazarlık becerilerine etkisini inceleyen deneysel çalışmalar yapılmalıdır.

The science of biotechnology is essential for the future of societies. That's why every individual in society needs accurate biotechnology knowledge to associate it with their daily lives. Based on this requirement, the present research aimed to develop a scale to determine secondary school students' knowledge levels on biotechnology and genetic engineering topics. We started the present study with constituting "The Biotechnology Knowledge and Concepts Scale (BKCS)" according to The Turkish Secondary School Biology Curriculum. Next, we used the findings of BKCS in addition to the learning outcomes of the topic to form the 30-item true-false type "The Secondary School Biotechnology Knowledge Test (SBKT)" in four steps. We used Rash Measurement Model to test the convenience of the sample, the validity, and reliability of the scores obtained from SBKT (The Secondary School Biotechnology Knowledge Test). Data analysis with Rash Measurement model showed that SBKT is unidimensional (infit-outfit values are between .05 and 1.2). Also, SKBT produced valid and reliable scores (reliability index=.73), item discrimination index of the scale is 1.67 (which means the items sorts students who have mastered the material from students who have not), and there are no biased items in the scale. Besides, based on the field expert opinions, we decided that SKBT is convenient and has content validity.

Bu çalışmada bütünleştirilmiş fen ve Türkçe etkinliklerinin okul öncesi çocuklarının Dünya’nın şekli ve gece-gündüz kavramlarını anlayışlarına etkisini incelemek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma Balıkesir Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü’ne bağlı bağımsız bir anaokulunda 60-72 ay arası 23 kız, 21 erkek toplam 44 çocuk ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında ön-test, son-test ve izleme testli kontrol gruplu deney öncesi desen kullanılmış, nicel olarak toplanan veriler analiz edilerek sonuçları yorumlanmıştır. Çocukların Dünya’nın şekli ve gece-gündüz oluşumu kavramları ile ilgili anlayışlarını ortaya koyabilmek için Dünya-2 testi kullanılmıştır. Deney ve kontrol gruplarının bulunduğu çalışmada deney grubundaki çocuklara araştırmacı tarafından 2013 okul öncesi eğitim programı çerçevesinde hazırlanan 8 etkinlik uygulanmış ve 8 hikaye okunmuş 4 hafta süresince uygulanmış, kontrol grubuna ise herhangi bir müdahalede bulunulmamıştır. Deney ve kontrol gruplarının zaman içindeki performansları incelendiğinde deneysel müdahale öncesinde gruplar arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark yok iken, müdahale sonrasında deney grubunun lehine anlamlı bir fark oluştuğu ve bu farkın izleme testinde de devam ettiği gözlenmiştir. Sonuçlar, çalışma kapsamında geliştirilen bütünleştirilmiş fen ve Türkçe etkinliklerinin çocukların Dünya’nın şekli ve gece-gündüz kavramlarına ilişkin anlayışlarını bilimsel olarak desteklediğine işaret etmektedir.

Örüntü bilgisi matematiğin düzenini anlamakta yardımcı olur. Örüntülerin erken matematik öğreniminde kullanımı, matematiksel düşünce ve ilişkilerin soyutlanması ve genellenmesine yardımcıdır. Örüntüler hakkında becerilerin ölçülebilmesi bu alanda yapılacak geliştirme çalışmaları için bir ön koşuldur ancak bu becerileri değerlendiren ölçme araçlarının sayısı çok sınırlıdır. Bu nedenle bu araştırmada okul öncesi dönem çocuklarının örüntü becerilerini değerlendirmeyi amaçlayan bir testin geliştirilmesi ve bu testten elde edilen puanların geçerlilik ve güvenirliğinin test edilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda 26 maddelik uzun ve 17 maddelik kısa olmak üzere 2 farklı form geliştirilmiş ve bu formların okul öncesi dönem çocukların örüntü becerilerini değerlendirmede geçerli ve güvenilir puanlar ürettikleri ortaya konmuştur.