The influence of direct experience on students’ attitudes to, and knowledge about amphibians

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated how direct experience of certain amphibian species may affect a change in 7th grade science students’ attitude to, and knowledge about them. For this purpose, we devised a 45-minute lesson in which we used live amphibian species, and one lesson in which lifeless animals were used. The results show that students with prior direct experiences of amphibians generally report a more positive attitude toward them and, on average, achieve higher pre-test scores. Using live animals in the classroom had a major effect on the students’ attitudes to individual species, regardless of whether they had any previous experience with them. Students who have done both practical work with live animals in the classroom and had previous direct experience with them showed the highest level of knowledge and knowledge retention. Implications of the findings are discussed.