UDC 373.3.091:5:37.091.3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59694/ped_sciences.2026.19.087
METHODICAL DESIGN OF OPEN-ENDED TASKS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL FIELD OF THE INTEGRATED COURSE «I EXPLORE THE WORLD»
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HORVAT Marianna Vasylivna
Candidate of
Pedagogical Sciences (PhD), Associate Professor,
Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and
Methods of Primary Education, Mukachevo State
University.
ORCID іD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2320-9731
KUZMA-KACHUR Mariia Ivanivna
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences (PhD), Associate
Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of
Theory and Methods of Primary Education,
Mukachevo State University.
ORCID іD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8580-5830
Abstract:
The article substantiates the expediency of using open-ended tasks as an effective didactic tool for implementing activity-based and competency-based approaches in the natural science educational field of the integrated course «I Explore the World» in primary school. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to overcome the contradiction between the normatively declared orientation of modern primary education toward active cognitive activity of pupils and the insufficient methodological specification of the process of designing open-ended tasks in teachers’ practical work.
The essence of the concept of «open-ended task» is clarified as learning tasks whose conditions allow for a plurality of acceptable outcomes and variability of ways to achieve them, while maintaining a clearly defined educational goal. A comparative analysis of open-ended, problembased, and inquiry tasks is conducted, which makes it possible to substantiate their non-identity and the independent didactic status of open-ended tasks.
Based on the analysis of national and international scientific sources (open-ended tasks), the didactic characteristics of open-ended tasks are identified and the principles of their methodological design are outlined: goal orientation, age appropriateness, variability, pedagogical support, and reflexivity. A step-by-step model for designing open-ended tasks within the course «I Explore the World» is proposed, which ensures a combination of openness of outcomes with pedagogical guidance of the educational process and compliance with the requirements of the State Standard of Primary Education.
Examples of the implementation of open-ended tasks within various thematic units of the natural science educational field are analyzed. It is generalized that the use of such tasks contributes to the development of primary school pupils’ cognitive independence, the formation of skills to analyze, predict, justify their own judgments, and reflect on the results of learning activities.
Keywords: open-ended tasks; methodological design; natural science education; integrated course «I Explore the World».
References:
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