Teachers’ behavior and attitude towards using traditional chinese toys in preschool instruction: A TAM inquiry

Preschool education is a critical stage of children's growth. However, teachers face many challenges including inequitable access to teaching resources in preschool environments. This not only affect teachers' job quality, willingness to teach, and career development, but may also indirectly affect children's physical and mental health, as well as educational outcomes. Educational approach emphasizing child-directed learning, hands-on activities, and a prepared environment including concepts like play as pedagogy has been shown in many studies to improve learner engagement. Such approaches form the basis of methodologies like the Montessori and the use of toys in pre-school education. The limitation of modern toys has led to the exploration of alternatives like Traditional Chinese toys (TCT) with their potential for ease of use, graphic cognition, and diverse play. Users’ acceptance, perceived usability, ease of use and intention to use technology has however been central to the introduction of technologies in various contexts, including education. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study explored preschool teachers' satisfaction and willingness to use TCT in teaching. A questionnaire was administered to 235 preschool teachers teaching with TCT. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicate that teachers' overall satisfaction and willingness to continue using the TCT are high. Perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) were the main factors influencing teachers' satisfaction and the main drivers of their willingness to continue using, with PEU having a stronger influence. Among the preschool teachers who were tested, the mean values of teachers from preschool major backgrounds were higher than those of teachers from non-preschool major backgrounds, reflecting the higher acceptance of TCT among teachers from preschool major backgrounds. Findings suggest that more easy-to-use and interesting teaching resources should be developed to reduce teachers' cognitive load, promote children's development, and facilitate sustainable education. Future research should focus on designing instructional adaptations of TCT in different cultural contexts and longitudinally tracking and evaluating their long-term effects on teachers' and preschooler's multidimensional development.