Taking into account developmental characteristics and individual differences in children is a critical strategy for empowering both the individual and society within the discipline of education. An education program based on this awareness, especially from the early stages, creates an importance that can be fundamental for the child's success in school and life through early life experiences. Preschool education programs that are appropriate for developmental areas and developmental levels and undergraduate education programs that will support the professional practices of the educators who design and implement them are the best tools for the right interventions. Cognitive, language, social and emotional, motor and self-care skills develop rapidly in early childhood. This forms the basis for concepts and skills in adolescence and adulthood. For this reason, the competence of the educator who will design and manage the curriculum and educational experiences to be offered in the early years is very important. Contemporary educational approaches focus on individual differences in order to provide more effective education. Individual differences can be effectively managed through differentiated education programs. Differentiation is both a flexible and planned way of guiding teaching and learning with foresight. The aim here is to meet children at their developmental level and guide their development through their own experiences. The workshop format is one of the differentiated education practices. It can be used to support the personal development of educators, to teach them professional skills or to create change in existing systems. Workshops provide the necessary environments for learning to take place in a dynamic and powerful way. Workshops are timed learning activities. During these workshops, participants can learn something that they can later apply in the classroom and gain hands-on experience with the topic. For example, through workshops in an in-service training, participating teachers can examine their beliefs or perspectives on teaching and learning and use this process to reflect on their own teaching practices. In the related literature, there are studies indicating that workshops are one of the most useful professional development activities for educators.

In this study, based on these ideas, it was aimed to implement a workshop-based training program for child development specialists and pre-service preschool teachers and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program according to the views of the participants. The research is qualitative research; in order to examine the experiences of the participants during the workshops in depth, the case study model, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was preferred. In order to understand the experiences of the participants during the workshops, a multiple case study approach was adopted. The study group of the research was formed by maximum diversity sampling method. The participants of the study group consisted of 32 volunteer individuals with various educational backgrounds and age groups enrolled in a foundation university in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. In the study, semi-structured interview forms were used as data collection tools in order to examine in depth the experiences of the participants during the workshops. In the interview form, the views of the participants on what kind of experiences they had during the preparation, presentation and post-workshop processes were discussed. The research was conducted using the qualitative data analysis program MAXQDA 2018.

According to the findings of the study, the elements that the participants experienced differently from other courses while preparing workshops were grouped under five categories. These categories are communication and collaboration, creativity and active participation, material and content organization, time management, classroom management and interaction. The elements that the participants experienced differently from other courses while presenting a workshop were grouped under four categories. These categories are teamwork and support, personal development and self-confidence, class participation and interaction, presentation and teaching effort. The elements that the participants experienced differently from other courses after the workshop presentation were grouped under three main categories. These categories are feedback and evaluation, personal development and practice, and future benefits. In conclusion, this study shows that workshops and presentations made significant contributions to the professional development and personal skills of the participants. In this context, it can be concluded that applied education methods such as workshops should find a wider place in teacher training programs.

Keywords: Teacher education, instructional design, individual differences in education, inclusive education, program evaluation