Preschoolers' Difficult Questions and Their Teachers' Responses

Sak R.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION JOURNAL, cilt.48, sa.1, ss.59-70, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 48 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10643-019-00977-x
  • Dergi Adı: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION JOURNAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.59-70
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Preschoolers, Preschool teachers, Difficult questions, WH-QUESTIONS, CHILDRENS QUESTIONS, ASK, INFORMATION, TESTIMONY, PARENTS, LEARN, SENSITIVITY, MECHANISM, SCIENCE
  • Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This qualitative study examined preschoolers' difficult questions and their teachers' responses to them. Data were gathered via interviews with 324 preschool teachers, who were asked two questions: "Could you please share the questions you have been asked by preschoolers in your classroom that were difficult for you to answer?" and "How did you answer these questions?" Data were analyzed via the cutting-and-sorting technique. This yielded four main themes among the questions-science and nature, religion, sex and fertility, and daily life-and five main themes among the responses: realistic answers, insufficient answers, wrong explanations, leaving the question unanswered, and irrelevant answers. Only a quarter of the responses were realistic, meaning that most were inappropriate to supporting preschoolers' learning.