Promoting Students’ Physics Motivation by Blended Combination of Physical and Virtual Laboratory Environment: A Result on Different Levels of Inquiry

Abstract

In science and technology education community, technology-based pedagogy in science learning has been mentioned its effectiveness for facilitating scientific inquiry in school science. As such, this study investigated an effect of inquiry-based learning process into a blended combination of hands-on microcomputer-based laboratory and computer-simulated laboratory on secondary school students' physics motivation. Study participants were 66 eleventh-grade students of diverse learning abilities in a public school in Northeastern region of Thailand. They were measured intrinsic motivation (IM), career motivation (CM), self-determination (SDT), self-efficacy (SEC), and grade motivation (GM) in physics learning by using a 25-item questionnaire both before and after participating the intervention. To evaluate the intervention, repeated-measures MANOVA was performed to examine its effects regarding type of inquiry (open- and guided inquiry) and time (pre- and post-test). The results showed that students’ physics motivation for pre- and post- test were significantly different and their motivation were improved after participating with blended combination of hands-on microcomputer-based laboratory and computer-simulated laboratory for both types of inquiry. This evidence indicated that inquiry-based physics learning with the blended laboratory environment (physical and virtual lab) influenced students’ progression of physics motivation. As such, blended combination of hands-on microcomputer-based laboratory and computer-simulated laboratory could be considered as a pedagogic technology-based laboratory environment for teaching and learning of science by inquiry.