Abstract:

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the critical thinking skills in illustrated children's books in pre-school education classes. Design/Methodology/Approach: Within the scope of the research, 200 picture children's books were analyzed by document analysis method. Findings: According to the findings, it was observed that in the analyzed children's books, there were more phrases that support critical thinking skills such as inference, evaluation and self-regulation while high-level skills such as analysis and interpretation were rather limited. In addition, while phrases supporting the explanation skills were included directly in the examined children's books, it was observed that there was no indirect mention. As a result, research findings showed that critical thinking skills are limited in the illustrated children's books, and they are usually given directly. These results also clearly revealed the existence of a didactic approach, an attitude that restricts critical thinking in children's books. Illustrated children’s books prepared for early childhood should avoid this approach and they should be enriched with content that supports children's thinking skills. Highlights: The abstract of the article should be written by adding the "Calibri (Body)" text font, 8 font size, single line spacing and 6 nk space at the end of the paragraph. The abstract should be between 150 and 350 words. In the abstract, the purpose of the article, the method used, the main findings, conclusions and suggestions should be clearly stated.

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