Hands-on Activities and Their Influence on Students’ Interest

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of hands-on activities on students' interest. We researched whether students with experience in specific hands-on activities show higher interest in these activities than students without experience. Furthermore, the relationship between the quality of the hands-on experience and interest in the respective activity was examined. In total, 28 typical hands-on activities of biology education were considered. The activities were divided into the categories experimentation, dissection, work with microscopes, and classification. A total of 141 students from the 11th grade completed questionnaires on interest in the hands-on activities, their experience with each activity, and the quality of the respective experience. Students' interest in experimenting, working with microscopes, dissecting and classifying tends to benefit from performing hands-on activities. However, findings indicated that the performance of various hands-on activities can influence students' interest differently. For seven hands-on activities, we identified a positive effect of hands-on experience on interest, while in one case, practical work appeared to have influenced students' interest negatively. However, for most hands-on activities, no effect of experience on interest was found. The quality of hands-on experiences showed positive correlations with interest in the respective hands-on activities. Therefore, this paper argues in favour of designing biology lessons that allow for experiences with hands-on activities that also interest students. Our findings underline the necessity of investigating the effects of various hands-on activities in a differentiated manner.

Emotionally Intense Science Activities

“…Whereas previous research has found that students engage positively with demonstrations (Milne & Otieno, 2007) and identified the learner-centred or hands-on component of laboratory activities as interesting (Holstermann, Grube, & Bögeholz, 2010;Randler & Hulde, 2007), we have extended this research by determining students' discrete emotions during these activities. We have shown that the choice of activity is important for producing the intense positive emotions of happiness/joy, wonder and surprise.…”

Upper Secondary Students’ Situational Interest: A case study of the role of a zoo visit in a biology class

“…This example suggests that a hands-on activity that does not involve themes that student can identify (i.e. meaningfulness) or a high intensity level seems not to have influence on interest (Holstermann, et al, 2010;Mitchell, 1993).…”

“…Hands-on experiences have been reported as important sources of interest, and the main reason is manipulation of objects involves perception as well as engagement (Holstermann, Grube, & Bögeholz, 2010;Middleton, 1995;Mitchell, 1993;Palmer, 2009). However, hands-on activity is not always in itself sufficient to capture interest.…”

The Use of Teaching Model Associating Situated Interesting and Metacognition to Enhance the Scientific Inquiry Ability of Eighth Grade Low Achievement Students

“…However, challenge had only tiny effect (Krapp, Hidi, & Renninger, 1992). In the studies of scholars, such as Durik and Harackiewicz (2007), Hidi and Renninger (2006), Holstermann, Grube, and Bögeholz (2009), Juuti et al (2010), it was found that learners can feel novelty and meaning on the learning task and can participate in the activity. In the classroom, through the use of cooperative learning, creative activity, conduction of exploration and discussion, animation and virtual experiment, encouragement of thinking, debate on controversial topic, exploration of scientific story, and live classroom atmosphere, situated interesting of the student can be inspired.…”