Abstract
<p><em>Using living animals in school lessons makes it possible for students to have an emotionally charged learning experience. With the example of Thornback rays (Raja clavata), the emotional affects of sea animals on students are investigated. Theoretical aspects can be found in the explanation of activity-oriented teaching, which is organised holistically and student-active. The preparation for and confrontation with the thornback ray was successfully adjusted to the individual needs of the students. The students collectively worked on research issues and the ray was presented as a research object. Besides the emotional adventures of touching a living ray, the students took notes of the most important growth characteristics of the ray. Hence the students encounter the ray as a living animal on different levels. To check the hypotheses of how a living animal influences the students’ emotional state, the PANAS questionnaire is applied. PANAS serves as a snap-shot of the students’ emotional state. Whilst there are no differences found concerning the negative affects, the positive affects show a significant difference between a lesson with and a lesson without a real object. If the lesson comprises a real object, the item attentive is chosen significantly more often than in a lesson without real objects. Additionally, the data was analysed with a t-test, whereat the students in the framework of an activity-oriented lesson show significantly more positive affects compared to a lesson without real objects. The study gives a comprehensive insight into the different emotions of students when confronting them with a real object. </em><em></em></p>
Highlights
Using living animals in school lessons makes it possible for students to have an emotionally charged learning experience
The following null hypotheses refer to hypothesis I that is: Using a living animal in the framework of activity-oriented teaching has the effect that students at this point in time show more Positive Affects (PA) than in a lesson without a real object
PANAS I was conducted with 11 students, who participated in the test after a lesson with the topic “Preparing a poster dealing with rays” without real objects
Summary
Using living animals in school lessons makes it possible for students to have an emotionally charged learning experience. Activity-oriented lessons require an action situation, which Hilbert Meyer defines as limited in time, structured, and consciously organised interaction units by the teacher and the students that are meaningful and important Activity-oriented teaching allows the students to learn holistically with the mind, heart, the hands, and all the senses Regarding activity-oriented lesson, there is no action without an affect that is an emotional feeling. When someone is interested in a topic, he/she will deal with it more intensely and feel positive emotions like joy or happiness Students who have their own pet, for example, will feel positively about real objects in a lesson. This research contributes to the activity-oriented teaching and investigates the emotional affects of students caused by real objects. The purpose of this study was to find out how using living animals in school lessons influence the emotional affects of students
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