Nowadays, technology can be seen in every aspect of the human’s life. Especially, in early childhood education there has been increasing interest in the use of technological tools and the development of software for young children (Saracho & Spodek, 2008). In order to understand the technology usage in classrooms, it is better to define technology as a more specific way. According to Morrison (2007), technology can be defined as the implementation tools and information in order to create some products and solve problems. On the basis of this definition, technology states as far beyond the computers and software programs, includes electronic and digital devices. The word “technology” can be primarily related to computers, but this cannot be limited with this term. It is further to include different technologies such as telecommunications and multimedia (NAEYC, 2006). More specifically, these types of tools which are commonly found in early childhood settings are “computers, computer programs, television, video recorders, videotapes, tape recorders, cassettes, digital cameras, and various types of assistive technology” (Morrison, 2007, p.371).

The integration of technology has become highly popular for early childhood education (Vernadakis, Avgerinos, Tsitskari, & Zachopoulou, 2005). The main idea is to support children’s all developmental areas by using technology in classroom settings. At this point, implementation of technology-related activities on the basis of cooperative work is so important to show developmentally appropriate usage. Moreover, it is essential to consider learning process in terms of technology usage. It is directly associated with how to integrate technology with teaching (Swaminathan & Wright, 2003). Considering learning and teaching process in technology integration, good planning is an essential element of successful integration. Thus, it can be helpful for children to involve the learning process in a more active way (Clements & Sarama, 2003). However, technology related tools such as computers should not be considered as a separate activity in the teaching process. Instead, computers can be placed in the center of the classroom in order to let children work on it by themselves or with some adult supervision (Morrison, 2007). Therefore, early childhood pre-service teachers’ understanding of technological tools and how to use them into their teaching in the future are important issues.

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service early childhood teachers’ views about technology usage in the early childhood education. Moreover, the study concentrated on the issue of technology integration into early childhood curriculum. The following research questions were sought:

1)      How do pre-service teachers define technology in general use?

2)      What are the views of pre-service early childhood teachers about technology usage in early childhood classrooms?

3)      What are the views of pre-service early childhood teachers about integration of technology into early childhood curriculum?

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