Impact of an Active Learning Methodology on Students’ Emotions and Self-Efficacy Beliefs towards the Learning of Chemical Reactions—The Case of Secondary Education Students

Abstract

The main goal of this article was to analyse the impact of the implementation of an active methodology, namely inquiry-based learning, on the emotions experienced by students and their self-efficacy beliefs toward the curricular content in relation to chemical reactions. A sample of 56 students at the third level of compulsory secondary education (K-9) was considered. It was found that the use of an active methodology had on the one hand, a statistically significant effect on the promotion of positive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions and on the other hand a positive effect on the improvement of students’ self-efficacy beliefs towards learning the curricular content related to chemical reactions. The implementation of practical activities in the classroom might lead to better learning of scientific content; at least, the results presented in the current article point in that direction.

Keywords

• emotions
• self-efficacy beliefs
• chemical reactions
• active learning