Nurturing creativity and playfulness in early childhood pre-service teacher education

2017-06-17
Towards the aim of a comprehensive play-work provision and profession the authYoung children have an innate ability to pose questions, bring out new ideas, and use variety of materials in unusual and divergent ways. During the early years, children have the potential to express themselves openly and creatively. They enjoy when they are allowed to think divergently which is considered hallmarks of being a creative and playful individual. Hereby, early childhood teachers play a critical role in encouraging children’s creative instinct in the classroom while realizing the child’s potential and arranging an environment that has dramatic impact on the child’s creative experiences. To promote creativity and playfulness in early childhood classrooms, pre-service teacher education is one avenue worth exploring the beliefs and attitudes toward creative process and the pedagogical practices to enhance prospective teacher’s content knowledge about creativity and playfulness in general. This study aimed to make an in-depth investigation on the beliefs of pre-service teachers about creativity and their perceived barriers toward creative process. The study also aimed to examine the extent to which the pre-service teachers reflected their creativity and playfulness on their pedagogical practices. The data was collected through the pre- and post-questionnaires, document analyses of the lesson plans and in-class activities and the focus group interviews held at the end of the semester. The study results shed light on understanding the barriers in creative process and fostering variety of pedagogical practices during pre-service teacher education. Moreover, the results revealed the need for more courses on creativity and play to familiarize the pre-service teachers with different approaches to incorporate creative activities across curriculum. Nurturing Creativity and Playfulness in Early Childhood Pre-service Teacher Education Kastamonu University, Turkey Abstract book of the 27th ICCP World Play Conference “Researching Play - Challenges and Opportunities” 74 Psychological Evaluation of Toys and Games Elena Sheina and Elena Smirnova Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Russia The paper is devoted to scientific ground of psychological and pedagogical evaluation of children toys. We introduce approach which is developed in The Centre for Psychological and Pedagogical Expertise of Games and Toys of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. A toy is the most traditional cultural tool created by adults to develop children. The cultural-historical and activity theory of mental development is the theoretical basis of our evaluation approach. The developmental potential of a toy depends on the character and variability of play action and its relation to the needs and potential of the age. The specific types of child’s activities (cognitive-explorative activity, play, productive and physical activity), types of objects / toys for each activity and the criteria of their evaluation are described.
Abstract book of the 27th ICCP World Play Conference “Researching Play - Challenges and Opportunities”

Suggestions

Systems Thinking Skills of Preschool Children in Early Childhood Education Contexts from Turkey and Germany
Feriver, Sebnem; Olgan, Refika; Teksöz, Gaye; Barth, Matthias (MDPI AG, 2019-03-01)
This study presents an attempt to contribute to the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by conceptualizing systems thinking skills of four- to six-year-old preschool children with the role of age in this particular skill. For this purpose, we developed and tested a method and instruments to assess and conceptualize systems thinking skills of 52 preschool children in early childhood education contexts from Turkey and Germany. By employing qualitative case study research, we concluded that th...
Pre-service and in-service preschool teachers' views regarding creativity in early childhood education
Alkuş, Simge; Olgan, Refika (2014-01-01)
This research investigated the views of pre-service and in-service preschool teachers concerning the developing of children's creativity in early childhood education by determining the similarities and/or differences among their views. The data were gathered from 10 pre-service and 11 in-service teachers through focus group meetings, and then from the participants' views four basic themes were constituted consisting of their opinions on ‘creativity’, ‘creative people’, ‘importance of creativity in early chi...
Sustainability of historic rural settlements based on participatory conservation approach: Kemer Village in Turkey
Ekici, Simay Cansu; Özçakır, Özgün; Bilgin Altınöz, Ayşe Güliz (2022-04-01)
Purpose This paper aims to address the issue of the conservation and management of rural cultural heritage, with the aim being to gain an understanding of current problems and needs through a participatory approach, in recognition of the uniqueness of the relationship between nature, humankind and the built environment as an area of study. To this end, a comprehensive case study - Kemer Village in Turkey - focusing on the social sustainability and participatory approaches for the sustainable development of ...
Preschool children's perceptions on human-environment relationship: follow-up research
Cengizoğlu, Seçil; Olgan, Refika; Teksöz, Gaye (Informa UK Limited, 2020-05-01)
In the current study, we focus on how the early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) program develops the perceptions of preschool children about the human-environment relationship. The sample of the study consisted of preschoolers aged 60-66 months in Ankara, Turkey. The data were collected through the drawings of children on the topic of 'human-environment' and interviews on drawings obtained before and after the program. The findings revealed that children perceive their environment as a peacef...
Induction into teaching: adaptation challenges of novice teachers
Öztürk, Mustafa; Yıldırım, Ali; Department of Educational Sciences (2008)
This study aimed to investigate adaptation challenges of novice teachers in induction period, to analyze the variables influencing their adaptation, and to assess pre-service and in-service training in terms of preparing them for induction into teaching. Through a questionnaire, the data were collected from 465 novice teachers teaching in randomly selected 8 provinces of Turkey. The general results revealed that novice teachers had job-related concerns a little more often than the social concerns. The four ...
Citation Formats
S. Sevimli Çelik, “Nurturing creativity and playfulness in early childhood pre-service teacher education ,” presented at the Abstract book of the 27th ICCP World Play Conference “Researching Play - Challenges and Opportunities”, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2017, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/87155.