The Effects of a Design Thinking-Based Maker Education Program on the Emotional Intelligence and Maker Competency of Pre-Service Elementary School Teachers - Focused on the ‘Everyday Items Improvement Project’

The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of a design thinking-based maker education program on the emotional intelligence and maker competency of pre-service elementary school teachers. The study was conducted in two phases: developing the program and evaluating its effects through implementation. Program development proceeded in three stages: preparation, development, and improvement. The effects of the program were assessed by using a one-group pretest-posttest design, targeting 23 pre-service elementary school teachers in their senior year to analyze its impact on their emotional intelligence and maker competency. The results of the study were as follows. First, the design thinking-based maker education program was developed as a 15-session curriculum for pre-service elementary school teachers, focusing on the ‘Everyday Items Improvement Project’ theme. Second, the program was organized into eight stages: tinkering, empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, sharing and testing, improving, and maker faire. Third, the program was developed to reflect the unique characteristics of both design thinking and maker education, enhancing their complementarity and practical application. It was also designed to realize maker education, where students independently plan what they want to create, and determine and effectively utilize the tools and materials needed to produce their desired outcomes. Fourth, the program substantially improved the emotional intelligence of pre-service elementary school teachers, demonstrating significant effects across all the sub-factors of emotional intelligence. Fifth, the program proved effective in enhancing the maker competency of pre-service elementary school teachers, showing significant effects on all the sub-factors of maker competency.