Abstract:

In this research was tried to be described the current situation based on "philosophy for children" in preschool institutions. The case study (case study) method was used to design the study. The participants were chosen using “easily accessible case sampling.” The research was carried out at a government preschool education institution in Derince District of Kocaeli Province. The observation was conducted on a study group of a teacher and 22 children (11 boys and 11 girls) aged 5-6 years. The structured observation/non-participant observation was implemented in the research. An observation form was used as a data collection tool to observe children’s thinking skills (critical thinking, creativitiy etc.). In addition , the teacher's questions were taken down one by one and evaluated using Gallagher and Aschner's question classification. The observation includes the children's playtime as well as the Turkish, science, art, and drama activities used in the classroom by the teacher. Descriptive analysis was used during the data analysis. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the questions directed by the preschool teacher to the children were especially related to the low level convergent field 84/103 (ie more than 5/6) in the Turkish, art, science and drama activities. Therefore, teachers asked more questions based on the recall questions. Children were not given enough opportunities to ask questions and generate ideas in activities such as science and Turkish. Children more often used "cause and effect" expressions in critical thinking. The most used skills in early childhood are skills such as creative thinking and problem solving .However, activities related to these skills were not adequately included in the process.

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