Development and Validation of Instructional Model Using Constructivism and Situated Learning Theory to Enhance Problem-solving and Collaboration Skills of Chinese Pre-service Kindergarten Teachers

This study employed a Design and Development Research (DDR) approach type 2 aimed to design and validate an instructional model enhancing the problem-solving and collaboration skills of pre-service kindergarten teachers, grounded in Constructivism and Situated Learning Theory. The model development phase integrated findings from document analysis and semi-structured interviews, while the validation phase examined the model's content validity, appropriateness, and practicality through expert evaluations, instructor feedback, student reflections, and a try-out implementation. The model development results show that-1) document analysis identified key instructional principles, including active learning, authentic contexts, social interaction, flexibility and adaptability, and continuous assessment; interview results indicated that the cultivation of students' problem-solving and collaboration skills relies on the organic integration of authentic contextual tasks with structured collaborative processes. Based on the above findings, the instructional model consists of eight core components- principles, objectives, instructional process, students' role, teachers' role, learning environment, assessment, and instructional & nurturant effects.2) Results of Model Validation- Expert evaluations confirmed that the model has high appropriateness and content validity (I-CVI=1.00; S-CVI/Ave=0.95; S-CVI/UA=1.00; M=4.75, SD=0.53), provided both a theoretical and practical foundation for competency-oriented teacher education reform. The try-out results indicated that authentic tasks and structured collaboration effectively promote student learning, enabling students to achieve coordinated development of problem-solving and collaboration skills through active engagement. The try-out also provides a basis for optimizing the instructional model.