Experimenting at an outreach science lab versus at school—Differences in students' basic need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and flow experience

Abstract

All over the world, educational science outreach programs in which students can perform laboratory work have been developed. A common goal of these programs is to counteract students' decreasing motivation in STEM education. In Germany, several outreach science labs have been established over the last 20 years. It is assumed that the characteristics of these labs foster students' basic need satisfaction and qualities of motivation such as intrinsic motivation and flow. However, research in this field often lacks comparisons of motivation between the learning environments outreach science lab and school. Thus, the current study investigated students' perceived need satisfaction (relatedness, competence, and autonomy), intrinsic motivation, and flow experience during experimentation at an outreach science lab (n = 231) and at school (n = 203). We found that experimentation in the two different learning environments resulted in a comparable degree of perceived autonomy and intrinsic motivation. However, differences in perceived relatedness, competence, and flow experience were found in favor of the students who experimented at the lab. Thus, visiting outreach science labs is especially beneficial for students' perception of relatedness, effectiveness, and enjoyment during experimentation.

The Relationship among Academic Self-Efficacy, Academic Resilience, and Academic Flow: The Mediating Effect of Intensity Using Learning Management System

“…Table 1 shows the demographics of this research respondent. [14], [32] The Academic Self-Efficacy, Academic Resilience, and Academic Flow scales have four possible solutions. The response "Strongly Agree" received a score of 4, "Agree" received a score of 3, "Disagree" received a score of 2, and "Strongly Disagree" received a score of 1.…”

On the Interest-Promoting Effect of Outreach Science Labs: A Comparison of Students’ Interest during Experimentation at an Outreach Science Lab and at School

“…Despite the generally favorable portrayal of outreach science labs, a comparison to the school learning environment where experiments are also performed is often lacking (Kirchhoff et al, 2022(Kirchhoff et al, , 2023Itzek-Greulich & Vollmer, 2017;Nickolaus et al, 2018). As the positive effects of hands-on activities on students' interest have also been found in the school context (e.g., Holstermann et al, 2010;Palmer et al, 2017;Potvin & Hasni, 2014;Swarat et al, 2012), the question arises as to whether experimentation at an outreach science lab outperforms experimentation at school in terms of the psychological state of interest.…”