Ben Sorun Çözebilirim (BSÇ) Programının Etkililiği: Okul Öncesi Dönemi Çocukları Üzerinde Deneysel Bir Araştırma

The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of I Can Problem Solve / ICPS Program developed by Shure (1992) of those children attending preschool education programs in the age of 4-5. This program is designed to develop children's thinking skills. The most important feature of the program is that it teaches children how to think, not what to do or think in the decision-making process for problem-solving. ICPS is a comprehensive and internationally supported program that was developed as a result of more than 25 years of studies. This research is based on real experimental models from experimental methods, pretest-posttest control group design . Experimental and control groups were composed of 34 children who attend a state preschool in Balıkesir . The researcher administered 59 sessions Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Education Program, adopted into Turkish form for preschool children to the experimental group for five months. Preschool Interpersonal Problem-Solving Test was used for data collection tool in the study. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the pretest of the groups. Split Plot ANOVA was used for comparing of the groups pretest and posttest scores. The findings showed that ICPS given to children was effective in developing their interpersonal problem solving skills.


INTRODUCTION
Preschool education plays a facilitative role in providing an appropriate socialization environment for children's cognitive, affective and behavioral development and managing healthy relationships with both their peers and adults. Supporting the development of children who mostly completed their mental development between the ages of 0 to 6 with appropriate educational activities is incredibly important in terms of regulating their social and academic skills in the years to come (Fan & Chen, 2001, p. 20). Kağıtçıbaşı, Sunar, Berkmen, and Cemalcılar (2004) proved the effect of pre-school education on children's mental development and academic success with a scientific research embracing 22 years. It is inevitable that the children who live in interaction with their peers in preschool period experience satisfactory events as well as facing problems. According to Piaget (1983), interpersonal problems contribute to the development of children in terms of understanding others' thoughts and moving away from egocentrism (Dereli İman, 2014). However, children often solve their problems with ineffective methods. Some cry and shout; some hit or bite; and some do not tell the truth to their parents or teachers. These methods create new problems rather than provide satisfactory solutions to children's problems (Yılmaz, 2019). Özdil (2008) stated that most of the students do not have sufficient equipment to constructively manage their interpersonal problems. Therefore, it is thought that children need to gain effective problem-solving skills. Solving problems is defined as a cognitive and behavioral process by the author in which the difference between the existent situation and the intended goal is perceived and the tension that stem from this situation is defused (2006). Problem-solving is a learnable skill (Yıldırım, Hacıhasanoğlu, Karakurt, & Türkleş, 2011) and there are many benefits if children gain this skill at an early age. It is important to gain this skill at an early age because it helps children to increase their academic success, establish positive interpersonal relationships with friends and adults, improve healthy developmental functions, and prevent more serious problems from happening (Reid, 2003, as cited in Kargı, 2009, p.38). Similarly, problemsolving promotes that children consider other people's views, develop an understanding of social relations, and take responsibility for their behaviors with their peers (Dalkılıç, 2014;Gök, 2009;Terzi, 2003). Bingham (2004) stated that children with an ability to solve problems know how to take advantage of the opportunities they encounter, find different solutions to overcome the difficulties they face, wonder everything, ask questions, and make predictions. In a nutshell, the ability to solve interpersonal problems is a skill which must be supported during preschool period and its effects last lifelong (Akbaş, 2005;Aksüt, 2015;Anlıak & Dinçer, 2005;Bal, 2018;Emir, 2016;Kaçar, 2016;Karayol, 2016;Mercan, 2019;Oğuz, 2012). In literature, there are scientific proofs that show children can acquire this skill from the age of 4 (Shure, 2001;Ünal & Aral, 2014). A great deal of studies have been conducted about interpersonal problem-solving skills during preschool period in our country and abroad (Alemdar Coşkun, 2016;Anlıak & Dinçer, 2005;Anlıak & Şahin, 2010;Aras, 2018;Bal, 2013;Dalkılıç, 2014;Dilber, 2015;Dinçer & Guneysu, 1997Domitrovich, Cortes, & Greenberg, 2007;Emir, 2016;Işıktekiner, 2014;Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Kaytez & Kadan, 2016;Keçecioğlu, 2015;Kesicioğlu, 2015;Koruklu & Yılmaz, 2010;Mercan, 2019;Mermer, 2017;Öğülmüş & Kargı, 2015;Özdil, 2008;Shure 1992a;Tangül Özcan, 2007;Türköz, 2007;Yoleri, 2014). When some of these studies are examined, it is seen that some of them involve the implementation of educational programs aimed at developing interpersonal problem solving skills of children (Alemdar Coşkun, 2016;Anlıak, 2004;Anlıak & Şahin, 2010;Aras, 2018;Dinçer & Güneysu, 1997;Işıktekiner, 2014;Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Koruklu & Yılmaz, 2010;Mermer, 2017;Özdil, 2008;Tangül Özcan, 2007). In some other studies, it is seen that the relationship between children's interpersonal problem solving skills and academic self-esteem (Kaytez & Kadan, 2016), watching television and family structure (Kesicioğlu, 2015), attachment styles (Türköz, 2007), social emotional adjustment (Dalkılıç, 2014), self-regulation skills (Mercan, 2019), perceptions of marital conflict (Emir, 2016), moral judgment (Dilber, 2015), and perspective taking skills (Aras, 2018;Bal, 2013) is examined. Interpersonal problem-solving skill enables to solve interpersonal problems quickly and efficiently with the developed systematic models and the teaching of these models. If taught particularly at schools and in family, these aforementioned models help children, teenagers, and adults to solve interpersonal problems (Kenç, 2004). Haim Ginott's work called "Between Parent and Child" that was written in 1965 is the first sample of these models. Thomas Gordon's work called "Parent-Teacher Effectiveness Training", Phillip Mountrose's "5 Steps Model for Problem-Solving with Children Ages 6 to 18" (Swets, 1998), Littlefield's "The Problem-Solving Model" based on cognitive approach (Davidson & Wood, 2004) and in our country Kenç's (2004) "8 Steps for Effective Problem-Solving Model" are other models created to develop interpersonal problem-solving skills. In addition, there are models designed directly for preschool children.

The Second
Step Violence Prevention Curriculum (Committee for Children, 1997), Preschool PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies; Domitrovich et al., 2007), Incredible Years Dinosaur Social Skills and Problem-Solving Curriculum (Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2003), and I Can Problem Solve Program (Shure, 1992a) are designed to directly develop interpersonal problem-solving skills of preschool children. The Second Step Violence Prevention Program was developed to support children's social and emotional skills. The Second Step program teaches children to think about the emotions of other children, to solve problems in cooperation, and to deal with anger in a positive way. The program includes empathy, impulse control and anger management skills (Committee for Children, 1997). Incredible Years Dinosaur Social Skills and Problem-Solving Program was developed to address problems such as behavioral problems, attention problems, and peer rejection of children (Webster Stratton & Reid, 2003). It was found that adaptation and application of Incredible Years Intervention Program Child Training, which was developed for children in early childhood, were effective for Turkish culture (Coşkun, 2008;Dereli, 2008;Uysal, 2016). Preschool PATHS program, which is integrated into standard education programs, aims to develop emotional awareness and communication, self-control, self-perception, peer relationships, and social problem-solving skills (Domitrovich et al., 2007). The program includes activities such as story books, puppets, and emotion cards (Hamre, Pianta, Mashburn, & Downer, 2012). Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving (ICPS) developed by Shure (1992a) or so-called I Can Solve Problem (ICPS) program is designed to develop children's thinking skills. The most important feature of the program is that it teaches children how to think, not what to do or think in the decision-making process for interpersonal problem-solving. This program is one of the most comprehensive research programs on teaching of interpersonal problem-solving skills (Anlıak, 2004;Kargı, 2009;Öğülmüş & Kargı, 2015;Shure, 2001). It was started to be generated by Spivak and Shure in the early 1970s and it was obtained after clinic studies that lasted more than twenty-five years (Shure, 1992a). This research is based on ICPS. ICPS program is composed of two main parts: In the first part there are lessons in which the pre-skills are thought to children to solve problems and in the second part the lessons in which the skills to solve problems are taught. The first part of the program, The Pre-Skills to Solve Problems, includes learning the necessary vocabulary, knowing his/her and others' emotions, and caring about others' perspective. The vocabulary taught in the first part of the program is important and preparatory in the later process of improving problem-solving thinking practice. Other lessons help children to learn about both their feelings and others' feelings, there are more than one way to understand what another person feels and to perceive that different people can feel different things vis-à-vis the same situation. ICPS concepts and lessons teach children not only to understand others' feelings but also the ways to influence them. On the other hand, the second part of the program, Problem-Solving Skills includes thinking about more than one solution, caring about the possible results of each solution, and deciding which solution will be chosen (Shure, 1992a). ICPS is an approach that puts the skills of children into center. Children experience stress and anger in line with the problems they live with their peers and adults. In order to eliminate the irritation they feel at the time, they apply the first method that comes to their mind first and they do not think the causes of their behavior. In problem-solving training, the familiarization with the ICPS concepts help children to think about many possible solutions instead of applying the first idea that comes to their mind. The positive expression of negative feelings can also affect the relationships positively (Ladd Kochenderfer, Ladd, & Coleman, 1996). For example, the concepts of some/all are an important factor in order to differentiate the problematic situation from the unproblematic one. Similarly, the concepts of same/different are problemsolving words that help children to think "different people can feel different ways about the same thing". The concepts included in ICPS training greatly influence the vocabulary of children and their approach to problems. The studies conducted show that the skills in understanding children's emotions influence their interpersonal problem-solving skills positively (Dereli, 2008;Yılmaz, 2012). There are three different versions of ICPS program as preschool, primary school and secondary school. In this research, the preschool version of the program consisting of 59 lessons for preschool children was employed. This program is applied to children with a play-based approach in which games, stories, pictures, puppets, and drama techniques were used. Therefore, children have fun while learning. The primary benefits of the program can be listed as creating self-confidence in children, encouraging children to think about alternative solutions, enabling new ways to deal with problems, increasing social interaction with their peers, improving their awareness and sensitiveness about others, and increasing independency of children. On the other hand, the benefits of ICPS program for teachers can be listed as consolidating other objectives in the school curriculum, creating a more positive class atmosphere, decreasing the time spared in disagreements, giving a learning opportunity to have lessons that are overlapping like a pyramid, making children gain new skills that can also be applicable in real life situations, and increasing the problem-solving skills of teachers (Kargı, 2009, p.64). ICPS is a thinking education and according to Einstein, "the purpose of education is not to teach the truth, but to teach thinking". Human beings are able to produce solutions to problems through their thinking power. Thinking is the work of making connections between concepts and propositions (Duman, 2009, p.353). Children who do not yet have the thinking ability of adults need to develop their thinking and problem-solving skills (Altan, 2018). In a series of studies in which ICPS program are implemented in Turkey, the effectiveness of the program in Turkish culture was determined (Anlıak, 2004;Anlıak & Şahin, 2010;Aras, 2018;Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Tangül Özcan, 2007). But when the literature is examined, it is often emphasized that preventive intervention programs developed for preschool children support social-emotional and academic skills, develop interpersonal problem-solving and thinking skills and increase positive behaviors. It is stated that preventive intervention programs should not be limited to the applied regions but should be expanded rapidly (Anlıak, 2004;Ocak & Arda, 2011). Therefore, it is worth investigating the ICPS in different sample groups and disseminating the program. The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of the ICPS program on preschool children who are in the age of 4-5. In this research, the Turkish form of ICPS program developed by the author for preschool children was conducted to the experiment group (2006). It is thought that the program contributes to interpersonal problem-solving skills of the preschool children in the age of 4-5.

Research Design
This research is based on real experimental models from experimental methods, pretest-posttest control group design.

Research Sample
Experimental and control groups were composed of 34 children who attend a state preschool in Balıkesir, Turkey. In the research, of the two preschool classes, one was stated as experimental group and the other one was stated as control group randomly. Experimental and control groups were independent of each other in order to continue teaching and learning process with separate class and separate teachers. The children in the research were placed in one of the groups as experimental (n= 17) or control group (n=17) according to their classes they attend. There were 8 girls and 9 boys in the experimental group and there were 7 girls and 10 boys in the control group. Pretests were given to children who were in experimental and control group in October and November of 2017. Before the pretests, an informative meeting was held for the parents of the children to summarize the aim, method and content of ICPS program and research and their permission was received to do these prosecutions. Subsequent to completing the pretests, ICPS program made up of 59 lessons were applied to children in experimental group for 5 months between December 2017 and May 2018 by the researcher. The training with experimental group was applied twice a week on average and each lesson lasted about 30 minutes. On the other hand, in the control group the researcher attended the curriculum activities of the class teacher as a guest teacher and the children were observed during the process.

Research Instrument and Procedure
In this research, Preschool Interpersonal Problem-Solving Test (PIPS) that was developed by Spivack and Shure in 1990 and adapted to our language by Dinçer as OKPÇ (1995) was used as a data collection tool. This test measures the cognitive skills of preschool children in solving interpersonal problems in daily life. The validity and reliability of PIPS was tested in various researches by Shure and her friends (Shure, 1992b). It was expressed that the scale was able to separate the children who behave differently in terms of behavioral adaptation and the changes at the end of the training in the studies concerning the construct validity of the scale. Test-retest method was used by Shure (1992b) in the original reliability study of PIPS and the reliability index of the test was stated as r=0.72. In another study done by Anlıak and Dinçer (2005), the reliability index of test-retest was found 0.85. Furthermore, it was found that the agreement percentage within peer and mother parts varied between %82 and %99 between coders. Similar results were obtained in validity and reliability studies conducted by Anlıak (2004). It was seen that the scale was used in many studies investigating interpersonal problem-solving skills on children (Anlıak, 2004;Bal, 2013;Dalkılıç, 2014;Işıktekiner, 2014;Kargı, 2009;Özdil, 2008). Pretest and posttest were applied to each child individually. The materials which were necessary to conduct the test were 13 toy pictures (a truck, a doll, a kite, a shovel, a hammock, a boat, a whirligig, a drum, a teddy bear, a piano, a guitar, a phone, a weeble) and mother, daughter and son pictures. The scores got from the PIPS test reflect the total number of different solutions which were suggested to peer problems and mother-child problems. There are scoring papers to which the answers of the children will be transferred according to the coding criteria in order to score the test. Training to conduct PIPS test, test materials, and the permission of conduct was taken from Professor Çağlayan Dinçer, an academic at Ankara University in Pre-School Education Department.

Data Analysis
The data obtained from the research was analyzed with SPSS 22.0 package program. Independent sample t test was used in order to test the meaningfulness of the Interpersonal Problem-Solving pretest score difference among the children who were in experimental and control groups. Split plot ANOVA was employed to compare the experimental and control group pretest scores and posttest scores. Before deciding the analysis technique, the data was examined whether it is appropriate for parametric tests usage. For the validity and inter-relaibility of analysis of split plot ANOVA, it is vital that the assumptions such as groups are independent of each other, group variance is equal, dependent variable is spaced or proportional and the distribution is normal must be fulfilled (Kalaycı, 2014). Accordingly, p value in Shapiro-Wilk test was bigger than 0.05 (pretest=0.06, posttest=0.08), the distribution was normal and the equality of group variance in Levene's test (Sig. Value. 0.47) and it was decided that it was appropriate for both t test and ANOVA for repeated measures test by corresponding measurements.

FINDINGS
In this research, the hypothesis suggesting that there is a difference between the interpersonal problemsolving points-total solution score-of the children who had Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Training in the experimental group and interpersonal problem-solving scores-total solution score-of the children who did not have this training has been tested. For this process, the solution that each child in the experimental and control group offered to problematic situations (mother-child and peer problem stories) and the total solution numbers have been measured as the pretest. The same measurements have been repeated as the posttest at the end of the program. Total solution scores of the subjects in the experimental and control group acquired by this method are shown in Table 1. It was discovered that the average score of pretest belonging to experimental group was ̅ =5.47 and the average score of pretest belonging to control group was ̅ =6. An independent samples t test was conducted in order to test the meaningfulness of the difference between the average Interpersonal Problem-Solving pretest scores of the children in the experimental and control groups. According to the independent samples t test result, the difference between the groups was not found meaningful t(32)= 0.325 (p>.05). This finding shows that problem-solving skills of the experimental and control groups before the training does have similar characteristics.
In Table 1, according to the posttest scores of the groups; total scores of the experimental group increased to 201 from 93 and control group's total scores increased to 142 from 102. Similarly, the arithmetic means in experimental group increased from 5.47 to 11.82; the arithmetic means in control groups increased from 6 to 8.35. It was seen that the children in the experimental group doubled their solution suggestions on average. The increase in the control group was less than the experimental group. This increase in the control group can be explained by other educational activities in the preschool curriculum. The researchers state that preschool education programs for healthy human relations should be prepared based on activities that will provide interpersonal problem-solving skills (Anlıak & Dinçer, 2005;Mermer, 2017). In Turkey, achievements and indicators for children's problem-solving skills were included in the field regarding the cognitive development of Preschool Education Program of the Ministry of Education, which was updated in 2013 (MEB, 2013). However, the pretest and posttest results of the experimental and control groups showed that ICPS was more effective than the current program.
In order to test the meaningfulness of the increase, split plot ANOVA was used with the experimental and control group pretest and posttest scores. The results of the analysis are given in Table 2. According to split plot ANOVA results, a meaningful difference was found between the pretest score averages and posttest score averages in relation to interpersonal problem-solving test of experimental and control groups participated in the research [F(1,34)=95.095, p<.05]. Namely, the research finding stating that the problem-solving skills scores of children who had the training regarding interpersonal problemsolving skills were meaningfully higher than the control group. This finding points to the applicability and effectiveness of the ICPS program in Turkish culture as in previous studies (Anlıak, 2004;Anlıak & Şahin, 2010;Aras, 2018;Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Tangül Özcan, 2007). In this study, although the effect of the program on a different variable was not investigated, it was seen that children acquired many social skills along with the development of problem-solving skills (Dereli İman, 2014;Hune & Nelson, 2002;Özmen, 2013).

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
In this research, the efficiency of interpersonal problem-solving training based on cognitive approach, which was given to children aged 4-5 years who were educated at a state school, was investigated. The results of the research showed that interpersonal problem-solving training is effective on the skills of problem-solving coherently along with the research findings of the literature (Anlıak, 2004;Anlıak & Şahin, 2010;Aras, 2018;Erwin, Purves, & Johannes, 2005;Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Shure, 1992a;Shure, 1997;Tangül Özcan, 2007). It was seen that the ICPS program gives similar results when applied in different sample groups. This situation is considered as a step towards the generalizability of the model rather than repeating the previous studies. There are a limited number of institutions that introduce such kind of farreaching programs in our country (Kaan, 2013;Öğülmüş & Kargı, 2015). As a matter of fact, it is stated that preventive intervention programs should not be limited to the applied regions but should be expanded rapidly (Anlıak, 2004;Ocak & Arda, 2011). The studies show that ICPS program not only increases the interpersonal problem-solving skills of children but also decreases the problematic behaviors (Kaan, 2013;Kargı, 2009;Shure & Spivack, 1982). Furthermore, it increases children's production of alternative solutions and their thinking skills (Erwin et al., 2005), their academic success (Tangül Özcan, 2007), self-regulation skills (Mercan, 2019), concept development (Yoleri, 2014), and perspective taking skills (Aras, 2018;Bal, 2013). From this point of view, it can be suggested that in the further studies the effects of ICPS training on children's empathy, selfconfidence development, and their assertiveness can be investigated.
In an another study done by Özcan and Öğülmüş (2010), ICPS training has detractive effects on the problems such as lack of attention, hyperactivity/impulsivity signs, not conforming to the rules, anxiety/depression, social introversion, crime-directed behavior, somatic problems, social problems and thinking problems of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. According to this, it can be said that ICPS training may have a preventive role in problematic children who may show destructive and antisocial behaviors in the future. In the further studies, the efficiency of the program can be tested on disadvantaged children. The participation of parents in education is a prominent factor in terms of supporting the child development. Indeed, providing the permanency and the integrity of the aimed learning practices maintain the efficiency of the education. In this study, although the parents were informed before and after the training process, it is thought that families should participate in the process actively in order to boost the efficiency of the training. Moreover, other studies showed that families were effective in improving problem-solving skills in children (Eroğlu, 2001;Spivack & Shure, 1985). In a study conducted by Dinçer, Anlıak, Şahin, and Karaman (2009), seminars were organized for families based on the Raising A Thinking Child Workbook of the ICPS program. Thus, the continuity of the program was strengthened at home and the approach form proposed by the program was shown by the families. In addition, at the end of the training, individual feedback was obtained from the families; however, no data analysis was performed. In subsequent research, feedback can be obtained from teachers and parents through a qualitative assessment. In the literature, it was notified that in the observation studies education must include permanency in order to test the persistency of the training (Shure & Spivack, 1982). The sustainability of training according to age will ensure the persistency and the placement of education as a life skill (Dinçer & Güneysu, 2001). However, it is thought that the teachers with whom the child often interacts must be trained as well. As a matter of fact, it has been observed that teachers frequently apply primitive problem-solving methods such as "Silence! Don't cry! Apologize to your friend!" in their approach to the problems experienced by children. According to Mermer (2017), teachers entering the child's life should give children the opportunity to solve their problems themselves. Teachers should not solve children's problems; they should only guide them through the solution process. In this research a certificate ceremony was done for the children who were in the experiment group at the end of the program. In the scope of the ceremony, a sketch including the topics learned throughout the program that was prepared by both the researcher and the preschool teacher and a show including plays and songs were organized and the children were delivered ICPS certificates. This practice is thought to increase the motivation and responsibility of children to be an "ICPS Child".