When I researched the topic »Living in the Alpine house once« I used inquiry-based learning principles and processes. Children have autonomously studied their own activity issues related to the life people once had in Alpine houses.
In this thesis I presented the individual steps related to the exploration of solving the closed-type problem. Exploring enables children to express their own creativity in all phases of the research from the definition of the problem, the expression of hypotheses, searching for various information, regulation of these and the final solution.
With the definition of the problem children met after the introductory motivation, where they had the possibility of assembling various types of houses with help of puzzles. During the process of building the houses children observed differences and similarities between houses. Within the conversation new research questions arose, which the children expressed through their assumptions. Together we suggested a number of activities that would lead us to new information and data and finally to the final solution. Children documented and edited new information and data promptly. In this way they could compare the original assumptions with their findings. The most important is the final phase, where we have learned how to use new experiences as well as new ideas in everyday life.
While solving the closed-type problem, children had certain information and data which they used to answer research questions. Children upgraded their experiences and ideas with the knowledge of people's lives, the alpine house, the lifestyle... At the same time they developed skills which are important for active and experiential learning. At the implementation of the project, children in addition to the research indirectly faced with different social skills like interaction among children and adults, agreement, argumentation, negotiation, cooperation... Children have been active and independent through the whole project, which is a prerequisite for sustainable knowledge.
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