Abstract
This study investigates students’ motivation during experimentation in geography lessons by implementing a newly developed experimental kit on soils (GeoBox) in Germany. The study focuses on a first evaluation by means of a one-group pretest/posttest design. Fifth-grade students (N = 166) answered a questionnaire pertaining to regular geography lessons (pretest) and took part in eight lessons with GeoBox, followed by a questionnaire regarding the experimental learning phase (posttest). Upon comparison of pretest and posttest scores, the results showed significant intra-individual differences regarding activation and students’ motivation. Students valued GeoBox and expected to be successful at tasks that entailed use of the kit.
Declaration of interest statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
2 For recent results of the project see http://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences/view/inquiry-based_teaching