Pixel International Conferences

As high school biology teacher, I have noticed that students’ engagement increases when they are active in the lessons. If they are forced to sit, they lose their focusing easily. 9th grade biology curriculum is based on molecular level biology such as organic molecules, DNA, cell organelles and cellular transport, which are very difficult to envisage, interpret and make connections. Students generally complain about that biology is boring, there are too many things to memorize, or it is difficult to understand. I designed this study if doing hands-on-activities increases students’ interests and achievement in biology. My hypothesis was if students do hands-on activities in the lessons, then they will be more successful and develop more positive attitudes toward biology than the students who don’t do hands-on activities. To explore the hypothesis, forty-five 9th grade biology students attending Hisar School were participated in this study. A pre/post test design measured student performance of biology concepts about the cell eight weeks after the unit was taught. The experiment group with twenty-three 9th grade students who were taught using hands-on-activities. The control group with twenty-two students was taught the same topic without using hands-on-activities. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the change in the biology scores of the students.  On the other hand, there was a significant difference between the change in the scores of female students in the favor of experiment group. Male students’ scores didn’t show any significant difference. In order to explore attitude effect, 10 item- five scale pre/post Likert Scale was used. It was shown that there is a significant difference between biology attitude in favor of experiment group.

Keywords: Hands-on activities, biology, attitude;

References:

[1] Ekwueme, C., Ekon, E., Ezenwa-Nebife, D., (2015)The Impact of Hands-On-Approach on Student Academic Performance in Basic Science and Mathematics, Higher Education Studies, Volume 5, 2015
[2] Holstermann, N., Grube, D., Bögeholz, S., (2010) Hands-on Activities and Their Influence on Students’ Interest, Research Science Education, Volume 40, 2010
[3] Hussain, M., Akhtar, M., (2013) Impact of Hands-on Activities on Students’ Achievement in Science: An Experimental Evidence from Pakistan, Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, Volume 16, 2013
[4] Pfaff, T.J., Weinberg, A., (2009)Do Hands-On Activities Increase Student Understanding?: A Case Study, Journal of Statistics Education Volume 17, Number 3, 2009
[5] Stohr-Hunt, P.M., (1996), An Analysis of Frequency of Hands-on Experience and Science Achievement, Journal of Research in Science Teaching Volume 33 Number 1, 1996
[6] Satterthwait, D., (2010), Why are ‘hands-on’ science activities so effective for student learning?, Teaching Science, Volume 56, Number 2,  June 2010