Examination of preschool teachers' practices and views related to differentiated instruction

The main purpose of this study is to examine the practices and views of preschool teachers regarding differentiated instruction. In the research, phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The differentiated instruction practices of three preschool teachers working in Kahramanmaraş were observed and one-on-one interviews were held with the participating teachers. In this regard, data was first collected by making observations. During the observations, the differentiations made by the participating teachers in terms of content, process and product, and the differentiation practices they made in the organization of learning environments and the assessment process were observed. Three observations were made in each classroom, and one-on-one interviews were held with each teacher at the end of the observation process. The analysis of the data was carried out using two methods together, inductive and deductive data analysis, which are qualitative analysis methods. Triangulation technique was used for the validity and reliability of the research, and pilot interviews were held before the interviews. The findings of the research were analyzed in line with the themes of differentiation of content in differentiated instruction, differentiation of process in differentiated instruction, differentiation of product in differentiated instruction, differentiation of learning environments and assessment in differentiated instruction. While this study describes how preschool teachers implement differentiation in different ways, it indicates that teachers need support to enrich their learning processes.