The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of folk dance training on 5 -6 year old Pre-school children"s physical and social development. The experimental design with an experimental and control group was used in accordance with the quantitative research methods in this research. The research has been conducted with the participation of 40 children. During the research, 32 hours of folk dance training instructed in all, across two months with 4 training periods in a week. Control group students were attended their daily pre-school education programme. As a result of the analysis, it has been detected that there is a significant difference between the experimental group who attended the folk dance training and those who did not in terms of physical and social development.

The aim of the research is to examine the environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment of 5–6-year-old children attending nature-centred private kindergartens and public kindergartens. The study group of the descriptive research that used a screening model consists of 48 children from nature-centred Private Maki Kindergartens and 48 children from public kindergartens in the province of Balikesir in the 2020–2021 academic year. A Personal Information Form and Environmental Awareness and Attitude Scale for Preschool Children, developed by Soydan and Samur (International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, 7(1), 78–97, 2017) for 60–72 months old children, were used in the study. The scale consists of two sub-dimensions as Attitude Towards Environment (15 items) and Environmental Awareness (11 Items) and 26 pictures. The Cronbach α coefficients of the Environmental Awareness (.74) and Attitude (.78) Scale for Preschool Children and the overall scale (.82) were calculated. The data were collected by the researcher through one-on-one meetings with each child. The mean, mode, median, skewness and kurtosis values of the variables in the study were calculated. To determine whether the environmental awareness and environmental attitudes of the study group differ according to the school they attend, independent samples t-test was conducted. According to the results of the research, a significant difference was found in environmental attitudes and environmental awareness of children in nature-centred kindergartens compared to children in public kindergartens. Children attending public schools are less exposed to the environment. Preparing the Pre-School Education Program in an environment-friendly manner to increase the environmental awareness of children attending public schools will be effective in terms of making a difference in their attitudes towards the environment.

No abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the technology usage characteristics of children between the ages of 4-6 and to determine whether these characteristics differ according to parental attention. This research is a relational screening model. The study group of the research consists of 117 children and their parents aged 4-6 years who attend independent kindergartens and kindergartens at elementary schools in Karesi and Altıeylül districts of Balıkesir province in 2018-2019 academic year. As data collection tool, "Personal Information Form" that includes demographics of children and their parents prepared by researchers, "Technology Use Questionnaire of Preschool Children of 4-6 Years" prepared by researchers, and "Parental Attention for Children Scale" that was developed by Campbell et al. (1986) and adapted by Sucuoglu et al. (2015) in order to determine parental attention for children were used. Descriptive analyses were performed, scale reliability was calculated, distribution of data was examined, and difference tests were applied depending on the distribution. In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) post-hoc tests and independent samples t-test were used. In the Parental Attention for Children Scale, while there was a linear relationship between the mother and father forms and its sub-dimensions; there was a linear relationship between the level of "Attention for Control", a the sub-dimension of father form, and survey questions. Despite the high interest in control, it was observed that children's use of technology was high.

No abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare father involvement among fathers with children in pre-school in terms of their status of having only one or more than one child. The study sample consisted of fathers of 3-5 year-old children who were enrolled in pre-schools in the district of Altıeylül, Balıkesir. Data pertaining to the involvement of fathers with one child and with more than one child were collected with the Father Involvement Scale (FIS) developed by Şendil and Sımsıkı (2014). Data was collected from a total of 325 fathers and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to test the construct validity of the FIS. The data derived from the Father Involvement Scale were collected in three sub-dimensions: DI (Discretionary Involvement), BC (Basic Care), RC (Responsiveness and Closeness), and were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. The results of the research revealed that the number of children had an impact on the discretionary involvement and responsiveness and closeness dimensions of father involvement and that fathers with only one child had higher levels of perception of the role of fatherhood and also higher levels of household task involvement compared to fathers with two or more children. According to these results, since a positive perception of the role of fatherhood is strongly and positively associated with family involvement activities, educators may provide support in enabling fathers and other family members to develop a positive perception of fatherhood. In providing this support, to avoid the differences stemming from the variable of being a father of a single child or of more than one child, planning activities together with fathers to provide real-life examples that promote time management and effective leisure time management may encourage fathers to spend more quality time with their children.

Sesli kitap okuma etkinliklerinin çocukların okuma ve yazma becerilerinin gelişiminde ve ilerleyen yıllardaki okuma başarıları üzerinde etkilidir.  Bu çalışmada ebeveynlerin evde çocuklarına düzenli kitap okumalarının çocuklarının yazı farkındalıkları üzerindeki etkisini incelemek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini Balıkesir il merkezinde yaşayan orta sosyo-ekonomik düzeydeki uygun örnekleme yolu ile seçilmiş okul öncesi çağda 20 çocuk (7 erkek, 13 kız) ve anneleri oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada tek grup ön test - son test  deney öncesi desen kullanılmıştır. Çalışma grubundaki çocuklara ön test ve son test olarak Erken Çocukluk Dönemi Yazı Farkındalığı Kontrol Listesi uygulanmıştır. Çalışmada kitap okuma teknikleri konusunda bir eğitim verilmeksizin annelerden toplam 8 adet resimli kitabı haftada iki kez okumaları istenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda annelerin ev ortamında çocuklarına sadece düzenli (nitelikli çocuk kitabı ile) kitap okuduğunda bile çocukların yazı farkındalığı becerilerinde artış olduğu saptanmıştır. Ebeveynlere yönelik farklı okuma tekniklerine ilişkin eğitim programlarının çocukların erken okur yazarlık becerilerine etkisini inceleyen deneysel çalışmalar yapılmalıdır.

No abstract