EXPLORING THROUGH PLAY

V teoretičnem delu diplomskega dela z naslovom Raziskujemo, ko se igramo je predstavljeno naravoslovje kot bogat vir pridobivanja izkušenj v predšolskem obdobju. Na osnovi Kurikuluma za vrtce je izpostavljeno posebno področje dejavnosti: narava. Predstavljeni so naravoslovni pojmi in postopki, ki se razvijajo med seznanjanjem z naravoslovnimi vsebinami, in opredeljena je vzgojiteljeva vloga v procesu zgodnjega učenja naravoslovja. Temelj tega diplomskega dela je učenje z raziskovanjem, zato je le-to podrobno razčlenjeno. Empirični del predstavlja raziskavo, s katero smo želeli dokazati, da je lahko raziskovalno učenje za otroka prijeten in zanimiv način pridobivanja informacij. S skupino 5 do 6 let starih otrok smo v sklopu raziskovalnih problemov izvajali raziskovalne naloge s kovinami in spoznavali lastnosti kovin. Ugotovili smo, da so z lastno aktivnostjo in medsebojnim sodelovanjem pri reševanju problemov prišli do veliko novih izkušenj in spoznanj. Rezultati sedemdnevnih raziskovalnih dejavnosti so podani v obliki vsebinske analize.The theoretical part of this thesis presents natural sciences as a rich source of experiences in the preschool period. On the basis of the Kindergarten Curriculum we have focused on a special area of activities: nature. We have presented natural sciences concepts and processes which are developed in the process of learning about natural sciences contents and we have defined the role of a child care worker in the process of early natural sciences learning. The basis of this thesis is learning by exploring therefore it is thoroughly analysed. The empirical part presents the research which was aimed to prove that research learning is a pleasant and interesting way of acquiring information for a child. Within the learning topic of problem solving we have done research tasks about metals with children aged between 5 and 6 so that they would discover the properties of metals. We have discovered that their own activity and mutual cooperation in problem solving has given them a lot of new experiences and discoveries. The results of seven-day research activities have been presented in the form of content analysis