The laboratory plays a crucial role in science education. However, teacher education for pre-service teachers' design performance in the laboratory is still challenging. This study paved the way for redesigning traditional laboratory teaching into a student-centered approach: inquiry-based design thinking (IBDT). To investigate the impact of the IBDT approach on students' design performance of science experiments, 25 pre-service science teachers participated in a series of laboratory activities guided by the IBDT approach in a teacher education program in this study. Mixed research methods were employed to collect and analyze students' responses to pre- and post-surveys, their designed artifacts, and self-reflection reports. The overall positive results were obtained except for students' performance in art design, organization of the materials, and the gap between students' understanding of theories and their practices/practical skills. The findings will inform the laboratory instruction in teacher education in science or science-oriented Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) education.