The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships among learning
opportunities, structural elements of institutions, reflective thinking, teacher-child interactions.
For this study, 300 kindergarten teachers completed a questionnaire.
The results showed that first, learning opportunities including informal and formal
learning opportunities had a positively significant effect on reflective thinking. Second,
reflective thinking strongly affected on teacher-child interactions. In other words, teachers
with higher levels of reflective thinking would make efforts to improve their teaching
quality. Third, structural elements of institutions did not have a significant effect on both
reflective thinking and teacher-child interactions. Fourth, learning opportunities had an
indirect effect on teacher-child interactions mediated by reflective thinking.
Based on these findings, some implications were discussed. 1) There is a need for
strategies for promoting reflective thinking such as supporting the establishment of teacher
learning community. 2) Formal learning opportunities should be designed considering
teachers' interests and facilitating the expansive learning through reflective thinking. 3) The
importance of reflective thinking in teacher education should be consistently emphasized
during preservice and in-service education.