Experience in developing early childhood program based on PBL and design thinking of pre-service early childhood teachers

The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of developing an early childhood program that based on PBL and design thinking for pre-service early childhood teachers and to examine its meaning. In this study, 25 students in the 3rd grade of the Department of Early Childhood Education at S University, located in the K area, were selected as participants to participate in the development of PBL and design thinking-based early childhood programs in early childhood program development and evaluation classes for a total of 15 weeks from September to December 2022. As a result of the study, the experience of the PBL-based early childhood program development process appeared as 'kindergarten built on white paper' and 'the result of constant questions', and the experience of the design thinking-based infant program development process was analyzed as 'empathy that changed the perspective' and 'the challenge of realizing the imagination in the head'. This study is significant in that it revealed that an early childhood program development class that based on PBL and design thinking can be an effective way to improve the power, empathy, and cooperative problem-solving skills required for early childhood teachers.