Abstract:

Abstract The early childhood period is vital for the emergence and development of creativity. Therefore, it is thought that it is necessary to examine the studies on children's creativity and to make suggestions for improvement. In this study, it was aimed to examine the theses conducted between 2018 and 2023 in the field of early childhood and creativity under 11 different headings: year, university, graduate school, department, method, sample type, school type of practice, type of participants, number of participants, data collection tool and subject. In this study, document analysis method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was preferred. There are 80 graduate theses that were decided to be examined within the scope of this research by using the key concepts of "Early Childhood and Creativity" and "Preschool and Creativity" covering the period between 2018-2023 through master's and doctoral theses published in the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education. Within the scope of this research, 68 of the graduate level theses selected to be examined are master's theses and 12 are doctoral theses. The theses analyzed within the scope of the research were analyzed by means of the "Thesis Classification Form" (TSF) developed by the researcher and consisting of 11 sections. In this study, descriptive content analysis was used to examine a total of 80 theses in terms of various variables. Within the framework of the research findings, results are presented in terms of guiding those concerned, enabling them to make evaluation and self-criticism regarding the studies carried out, and determining the direction of what should be done in future studies by seeing the deficiencies and needs in the field.

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