“…Observational studies mirror these findings, suggesting that U.S. teachers rarely encourage students to generate questions or ideas (i.e., engage in curiosity-driven exploration, Evans et al, 2023; Jirout et al, 2022). Turkish early childhood education settings, too, have been characterized by a strong adherence to rules and structured, teacher-directed activities (Gol-Guven, 2009; Karademir et al, 2020) as well as by pressure to reduce child-directed play to make space for academic activities (Tuğrul et al, 2019). Finally, teachers in both the United States and Turkey tend to ask more closed-ended questions (questions with a single answer) than open-ended questions that encourage children to expand on and explore their ideas (Çalık & Aksu, 2018; Kim, 2015; Köksal, 2022; Lee & Kinzie, 2012).…”