Impact of Religion on Turkish Early Childhood Teachers’ Factuality Judgments and Their Classroom Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of religion on Turkish early childhood teachers’ factuality judgments and reasoning. Participants responded following questions about the story of “Moses’s stick”: 1) Can Moses run water from a dry fountain just by hitting his stick to the ground? 2) Why, or why not? 3) Would you read this story to your children in your classroom? 4) How would you respond to your children in your classroom if they ask you, “Could Moses flow water from a dry fountain just by hitting his stick to the ground?” Findings revealed that 82.4% of the participants responded to the first question affirmatively, 83% provided religious reasoning for their response, 72% would not read this story to their children and 56% provided religious explanation for question four. In-service education on the nature of science, epistemology, the philosophy of science, the historical development of science, and scientific thinking, through which teachers can acquire scientific attitudes and practice scientific discussions should be provided. Thus, they can internalize science and understand that science is not an isolated discipline that is practiced in universities, but rather, in secular life it is the core of everyday living

Keywords

• Early childhood teacher education, teachers’ judgments, religion, science