The Opinions of Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers about Using an Inquiry-Based Approach in an Inclusive Education Course

Abstract

In this study, the opinions of pre-service early childhood education teachers on the use ofan inquiry-based approach in an Inclusive Education course were examined. The studyparticipants consisted of 40 pre-service early childhood education teachers. During the 16week course period, the flow of the lessons was provided by using open inquiry as one ofthe types of inquiry-based approaches. In the last week of the course, pre-service earlychildhood education teachers completed an evaluation to describe their opinions aboutusing inquiry-based learning methods. The data from these evaluations were analyzedusing content analysis. As a result, three themes, eight categories, and forty-two sub-categories were formed. The students expressed that the inquiry-based educational approach was effective in the learning and teaching process throughout the course. They reported that some of the reasons this method had a positive effect included: students havingchance to ask the questions they wanted answered and discussed, coming to class havingstudied, participating in the lesson actively, student-centered active learning, discussingsamples from real life, and having a democratic classroom environment