The aim of this research was to develop a STEAM-based program for teaching middle school students the concept of time to enhance their computational thinking skills. The proposed Time Teaching Program (TTP) consists of modules and activities on the definition of time, historical development of time measurement tools, universal time measurement system, space–time theory, and time as a fourth dimension. To determine the effectiveness of TTP and its effect on middle school students’ computational thinking skills, a mixed methodology was adopted in which both a quasi-experimental design including a pretest–posttest control group and an observational case study were used concurrently. The study group consisted of eighth-grade students from a public middle school in Turkey, selected according to the convenient sampling method. A computational thinking test was used to collect quantitative data, and observations and semi-structured interviews were utilized for the collection of qualitative data. According to the results of analyses, when the effects of the pretest scores were not considered, there was a significant difference (F.₄₆₉, 1, R² = .518) between the final test scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the former. Based on these findings, it can be stated that the proposed STEAM-based program significantly improves the computational thinking skills of eighth-grade middle school students.

Bu araştırmanın genel amacı; Türkiye’de son beş yıl içinde (2013-2017), okul öncesi fen ve doğa eğitimi kapsamında yapılan çalışmaların incelenmesidir. Bu genel amaç doğrultusunda; fen ve doğa temelli araştırmalarda incelenen konuların, kullanılan araştırma yöntemlerinin ve (son olarak) araştırmalarda yer alan katılımcı grupların dağılımı incelenmiştir. Betimsel tarama modeli, çalışmanın yöntemi olarak tercih edilmiştir. Makale seçimlerinde; çalışmaların Türkiye’de son beş yıl içinde yapılmış olması, öncelikli tarama ölçütü olarak benimsenmiştir. Bunun yanı sıra, çalışmada yer verilen 40 araştırma; SSCI, ERIC, ULAKBIM ile bu endeksler dışında kalan ama alana özgü dergilerin (okul öncesi ve erken çocukluk eğitimi) tarandığı elektronik veri tabanları kullanılarak seçilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgulara göre, fen ve doğa temelli araştırmalarda; fen eğitimi ve uygulamalarına yönelik etkinlikler ile çevre eğitimi, yoğun olarak incelenen konular arasındadır. Nicel ve nitel paradigmalar, araştırma yöntemleri olarak dengeli dağılım gösterirken; karma araştırma yöntemlerin, çok az oranda tercih edildiği saptanmıştır. Son olarak, taranan çalışmalarda; çocukların, öğretmen ve öğretmen adaylarının örneklem grubu olarak dengeli şekilde dağılım gösterdiği gözlenirken ebeveynlerle yürütülen çalışmaların sınırlı sayıda olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

This study sought an answer to the question whether the digitalization of play is technological mutation or digital evolution. To this end, 14 studies published over the last five years were reviewed and discussed under four themes, namely digital technology and children, parents’, and teachers’ perceptions of digital technology, screen effects, and digital-based learning. The review showed that digital technologies had entered children’s daily lives and digital applications had become an important part of early childhood education programmes. Although digital technologies offer positive contributions to children’s learning and improve some skills (creativity, problem-solving, and even motor development), it seems as a potential danger to reduce children’s play process only to the use of digital games. If this happens, the evolutionary and genetic origin of play, which has an older history than humanity, will be seriously devastated.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of P4C implementations on children's perceptions of moral and social rules. The study was carried out with a total of 48 children aged five years old, 23 of them in the experimental group and 25 of them in the control group, attending a public school in the 2023–2024 academic years. A quasi-experimental design was used in the research, and the fully mixed sequential equal status design, one of the mixed research typologies, was applied. The Preschool Children's Conceptions of Moral and Social Rules Scale was applied in the quantitative dimension of the research, and observation, interviews, and anecdotal records constituted the qualitative data collection dimension. Briefly, after the implementation process, the experimental group's perception of moral and social norms improved. In the current study, a substantial difference between the children's moral rule and social rule perceptions after the P4C sessions was discovered when the experimental group's moral rule and social rule perception scale scores were analyzed before and after the implementation. A noticeable improvement in cognitive and social-emotional development was seen. It was determined that positive behaviors improved, particularly in moral situations requiring tolerance, in the experimental group. The study came to the conclusion that teaching children philosophy helps them enhance their critical thinking skills.

This study explores the significance of forest schools in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically their effects on children’s developmental areas. This study was conducted with nine preschool teachers and 134 children attending a public forest school in southern Turkey in 2021. A combination of observation protocols, anecdotal records, and in-depth interviews, applied as part of a phenomenological approach, were the preferred data collection tools. The results showed that forest schools can tolerate learning losses and offer vital support for children’s psycho-social, motor skills, and cognitive development, while simultaneously promoting environmental sustainability values and behaviors.