Abstract:

This study was planned as a qualitative design to investigate parents' opinions on learning in early childhood. The study group of the research consisted of 355 parents who have children at pre-school level in the provinces of İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Antalya, Bursa, Eskişehir, Konya, Kayseri, Balıkesir, Mersin, Malatya, Erzurum, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Kars, Şanlıurfa, Van and Ağrı of Turkey. As data collection tools, "Personal Information Form" and "Early Childhood Learning Questionnaire" prepared by the researchers were used. In the analysis of the data, the weighted arithmetic mean was calculated and chi-square analysis was performed. Open-ended questions in the questionnaire were analyzed through content analysis. According to the results of this study, the parents in the research gave importance to the situations that contribute to the social development in early childhood learning the most and considered it most important for the child to be interested and curious about something for the realization of learning. In addition, parents observed the behavior of their children to participate in the learning process the most and stated that it is necessary to listen to the children and try to understand their way of thinking in order to develop learning behaviors. In the light of the conclusion derived from this study, suggestions can be presented as follows: Parental education events can be organized in order to increase the knowledge and activities of parents about learning in early childhood. Children's interests and curiosities can be taken into account by their parents so that children can be engaged more in social activities.

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