PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences ISSN 2454-5899 © 2017 The author and GRDS Publishing. All rights reserved. Available Online at: http://grdspublishing.org/ 398 Genc-Kumtepe et al. Volume 3 Issue 2, pp. 398 - 411 Date of Publication: 07 th September, 2017 DOI-https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.32.398411 EARLY CHILDHOOD SCIENCE EDUCATION TRENDS IN TURKEY: WHERE FROM? WHERE TO? Evrim Genc-Kumtepe College of Open Education, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey evrimgenc@gmail.com Sibel Kaya College of Education, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey sibelkaya@gmail.com Serap Erdogan College of Education, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey seraperdog@gmail.com Umran Alan College of Education, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey umranalan@gmail.com Alper Tolga Kumtepe College of Open Education, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey kumtepe@gmail.com Abstract The current study intends to review both all empirical and theoretical research for understanding and discussing the trend in early childhood science education in Turkey. A summative content analysis was conducted with a total of 136 studies including 69 graduate theses (master thesis and dissertations) and 67 journal articles published from 1999 (the beginning) to the mid-2017. Data were extracted from the full-text of articles and the theses by visiting the websites of the journals and the related databases. The search keywords mainly included the terms: early childhood, preschool, science. The studies were analyzed in terms of