A Study on the Relationship among Variables Affecting Learning Outcomes in Capstone Design for Pre-service Early Childhood Teachers

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between task value, task authenticity, flow, satisfaction, and problem-solving ability perceived by pre-service early childhood teachers who participated in capstone design and to explore the direction of training pre-service early childhood teachers to meet the needs of the field.For the study, a survey was conducted among 85 early childhood education students who took the capstone design at J Univerity in 2022 and 2023.The questionnaire consisted of 7 questions on task values, 8 questions on task authenticity, 8 questions on satisfaction, 9 questions on flow, and 16 questions on problem-solving ability.The collected data were analyzed using SPSS for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and reliability analysis, and Mplus was utilized to verify the appropriateness of the established paths among the variables.The results are as follows: First, task value has a significant effect on flow.Second, task value, task authenticity, and flow have significant effects on satisfaction.Third, flow and satisfaction have significant effects on problem-solving ability.Based on these results, the use of contextualized tasks and teaching-learning strategies that enable learners to recognize the value of these tasks are necessary for the success of the capstone design class, and there is a need to expand the field-based curriculum.