ABSTRACT
The aim of the work was to apply short-term educational activities to primary school pupils and to find out their influence on pupils' attitudes, compared to the traditional way of teaching. We observed differences between the cumulative mean scores of girls (x = 2,1) and boys (x = 2,4). We showed no difference in the cumulative mean scores of 7th and 8th graders. The pre-test data were at the level of statistical significance (p = 0,0521), with the experimental group (E) performing worse on mean score (x = 2,61) than the control group (K) (x = 2,31). The values correlated with the end-of-year grade in the biology and chemistry subjects. A paired t test revealed a statistically significant difference in the experimental group between the cumulative means of the pre-test and post-test (p = 0,0419) and the pre-test and retention test (p = 0,0354). A statistically significant difference was also observed in the individual dimensions (separation, recycling and production). In the control group, there was no statistically significant difference between the individual tests and dimensions. We have demonstrated the effective use of inquiry-based learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.