Promoting creativity in early childhood education
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attention to the social aspect of creativity and creative thinking. In fact, there are other studies which present opinions that children in classes of extremely traditional teachers may experi- ence problems expressing themselves, and that this situation may hinder creativity [10]. If teachers are flexible in their attitudes towards children, and if they pay attention to the individ- ual traits of children, children will be able express themselves easily, and this will strengthen the social function of creativity in children. Within the second theme, which includes opinions on supporting creativity and creative thinking in children, teachers and teacher candidates mentioned the prominence of techniques that would attract the attention and interest of children during activities conducted with them. Leaving children in the middle of a problematic situation, motivating them to use an object for different purposes or asking them to complete a story are among the practices that may be car- ried out to support creativity. The participants stated that there are technology-based tech- niques that can be used to promote creativity in addition to techniques based on communication. Akbaba and Kaya [30], who pointed out that such techniques may be used to enhance the creativity of children by maintaining their interest and curiosity, conducted research with teachers to promote the thinking skills of children. In this research, preschool teachers stated that they mainly used methods and techniques such as hands- on learning,
demonstrations, projects, games, and the question and answer to enable students to achieve thinking skills. There are the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates which state that using different methods (i.e. arts) to promote creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage will pro- vide positive contributions [31]. In their suggestions regarding in class activities and out of class activities to be conducted with children, teachers have concentrated on conducting activi- ties that offer different options to children rather than standard and monotonous activities. Creativity and creative thinking may yield more development when people break the mold. Teachers developing attitudes that enable their students to express themselves comfortably is one of the most important factors that would eliminate the obstacles hindering creativity [32]. In the findings of the study conducted by Yenilmez and Yolcu [10] regarding the attitudes of teachers in classes on the promotion of creative thinking skills in children, it was stated that children should be given the opportunity to express their thoughts, and that their thoughts should be respected. It has been emphasized that families should contribute as much as possible during in class and out of class activities. Supporting the child strongly both in the home and at school is a very important factor that accelerates the development of creativity. Chatting to the children about activities during out of class activities, and asking them open-ended questions about the
process may enrich their thinking and their mind. Making suggestions to the family to have this point of view while communicating with the child may give the children an opportunity to enhance their creativity throughout the day. The teachers stated opinions which show that if families participate actively during this process, they may provide positive contributions to the child. Mutlu and Aktan [33] stated that educational programs which are directed towards think- ing, and with which the teacher, family and children support and complement each other dur- ing preschool education should be prepared. The preschool teachers participating in the study also stated that creativity and creative thinking play an important role in activities which the families do with their children. It is important to include activities that address different senses for activities conducted in the class, and getting the attention of children. In a study conducted earlier [8] it was found out that a teacher needs to discover the different traits of children by observing them carefully, PLOS ONE Creativity in early childhood PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915 December 6, 2023 18 / 21
act as a role model for the child with her / his character, and include music, art, language and game activities in the daily plan that will develop and promote the child’s creativity. It was stated by teachers and teacher candidates that the preschool educational has a struc- ture that gives the chance to promote creative thinking. The preschool educational program is defined as a child-centred and flexible program which places prominence on research and dis- covery, and which offers children different activities for learning. The program is a develop- mental program which places emphasis on creativity as well as family education and family participation [7]. Teachers and teacher candidates expressed that the flexible structure of the preschool edu- cational program enables them to plan according to the individual traits of children and offers the child more freedom. The fact that the program is student- centred may enable the child to display more creative outcomes. In a research which was conducted to find out the achievements and the indicators in the program in relation to the skills of the 21st century, it was emphasized that 5 achievements within a total of 21 in the cognitive delopment part were found to be in relation with the skills of the 21st century. Similarly, 18 indicators among a total of 113 indicators were found to be in relation with skills of the 21st century. It was stated that 7 of the achievements in the social- emotional development, 5 items in the cognitive development, and 4 of the items in the
achievements in linguistic development were parallel to the skills of the 21st century. It is stated that the highest achievements in relation with the skills of the 21st century are the achievements in social- emotional development [34]. It is also aimed to find out the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates for developing creativity and creative thinking in children, tries to evaluate the opinions of participants using a holistic perspective within the context of the preschool educational program. The following suggestions are made based on the findings of the study: • Problem solving situations that may enable students to display their creativity should be provided. • Families should participate more in children’s educational process. • Teachers should include more activities that strengthen the individual traits of children. • Resources should be provided to teacher candidates to enhance awareness for promoting creativity in the preschool stage. • Teachers should develop attitudes that are not traditional in the activities conducted with children, and when communicating with the children, as well as taking individual differ- ences into consideration. As the study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was less interaction between the researchers and the participants. Thus, this situation is considered to be the great- est limitation of the study. Acknowledgments This article was written based on the master’s thesis titled ‘The Study of the Opinions of Pre- school Teachers and Teacher candidates on the Promince and Promotion of Creativity in the
Preschool Stage‘ which was prepared by Yeşim Yılmaz under the supervision of Assistant Pro- fessor Yakup Yıldırım in 2021, at Akdeniz University, Institute of Educational Sciences. PLOS ONE Creativity in early childhood PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915 December 6, 2023 19 / 21
Author Contributions Conceptualization: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Data curation: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Formal analysis: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Funding acquisition: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Investigation: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Methodology: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Project administration: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Resources: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Software: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Supervision: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Validation: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Visualization: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Writing – original draft: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. Writing – review & editing: Yakup Yildirim, Yeşim Yilmaz. References 1. Aral N, Kandır A, Can Yaşar M. Okul O¨ ncesi Eğitim ve Okul O¨ ncesi Eğitim Programı. İstanbul: YA-PA Publishing; 2002. 2. Arı M. Eğitimde yeni yaklaşımlar. İstanbul: Morpa Ku¨ ltu¨r Publishing; 2005. 3. Senemoğlu N. Gelişim o¨ğrenme ve o¨ğretim kuramdan uygulamaya. ( 21. baskı). Ankara: Pegem Aka- demi Publishing; 2012. 4. Turaşlı Kuru N. Okul o¨ ncesi eğitimin tanımı ve o¨nemi. Haktanır G. (Ed.). (In) Okul O¨ ncesi eğitime giriş. İstanbul: Anı Publishing; 2010. 5. Yavuzer H. C¸ ocuk eğitimi el kitabı ( 10. Edition). İstanbul: Remzi Publishing; 2000. 6. Zembat R. Okul o¨ncesi eğitimde nitelik. Oktay A. ve Unutkan O¨ . Polat (Ed.), (In) Okul o¨ ncesi eğitimde gu¨ ncel konular. İstanbul: Morpa Ku¨ ltu¨ r Publishing; 2007. 7. Ministry of Education. Preschool Education Program. Ankara; 2013. https://tegm.meb.gov.tr/dosya/ okuloncesi/ooproram.pdf
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