Effects of recreational activities to enhance science learning motivation and attitude toward participating with recreational activities

Abstract

The objectives of research were to study the outcome of the program of recreational activities for enhancing students’ science learning motivation and attitude toward participating with recreational activities. The participants were 30 of 4th to 9th grade students from a small school at Uttaradit Province, Thailand who choose to attend with the recreational activities: Warm Up, Cell Game, Fun with ball, Genetics Game, Team Work Game which were designed for not only participating with enjoyment and support collaboration but also enhancing science learning. The data was collected by 1) the observation form of students’ behavior during participation with recreational activities and 2) the questionnaire which has 4 parts: personal information, my science learning motivation which was adapted from the 5-point Likert scale of Students Motivation Toward Science Learning questionnaire (SMTSL) developed by Tuan, Chin, & Shieh (2005), my attitude toward participating with recreational activities which asked to indicate their agreement to each statement on 5-point Likert scale, and my recommendations at the end the recreational activities. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. The results of this research indicate that the participants’ science learning motivation and attitude toward participating with the recreational activities after participating in the program of recreational activities were highest level. This suggests that the designed recreational activities cloud be as extracurricular science-related activities for students have not only satisfaction in the recreational activities but also promotion of science learning motivation.