The Effects of Inquiry-Based Learning on Herbal Drinks for Health on Problem-Solving Ability of Early Childhood Students, Watlannaboon (Nom Hongsadech Uppatham) School, Nonthaburi Province.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to compare preschool children’s problem-solving abilities before and after implementing the inquiry-based learning on healthy herbal drinks. The population consisted of 54 preschool children from 2 classrooms, aged 4-5 years, who attended Preschool Year 2 in the second semester of the 2524 academic year at Watlannaboon School (Nhom Hongsadech Uppatham), Nonthaburi Province. The sample group comprised 27 preschool children who attended Preschool Year 2 room 2 in the second semester of the 2524 academic year, selected through cluster random sampling. The research instruments included 24 inquiry-based learning on healthy herbal drinks lesson plans with an IOC of 1.00 and a preschool children’s problem-solving abilities test with three aspects: (1) understanding the problem (10 items), (2) exploring problem-solving strategies (10 items), and (3) selecting appropriate solutions (10 items), totaling 30 items with the reliability value at 0.90.  The experiment was conducted for eight weeks, three days per week, 30 minutes each, during the experience enhancement activity. The statistics used in this research were mean, percentage, standard deviation, and t-test.

The findings revealed that preschool children’s problem-solving abilities after implementing the inquiry-based learning on healthy herbal drinks demonstrated higher problem-solving abilities than before the experiment in overall and each aspect with statistically significant level of 0.5.