Motivating to learn chemistry by experimenting at home

The thesis entitled “Motivation for learning chemistry by experimenting at home” looks into the motivation of pupils for learning chemistry and their motivational orientation towards learning the subject. Based on the questionnaires “Learning motivation”, “How do I learn chemistry” and “Subject realisation” we determined the following: how the pupils prefer to learn chemistry; whether they like it; which learning methods they find most motivational; what is their opinion about experimental work; and what is the influence of experimental work on the pupils’ interest for learning chemistry. The empirical research was designed as an experiment involving three questionnaires that were distributed among pupils attending the 9th grade of primary school. They were first required to fill in the questionnaires “Learning motivation” and “How do I learn chemistry”; for homework, they were asked to conduct experiments. Their task was to carry out three experiments at home, observe them and enter the findings into a data sheet. We examined the data sheets they brought to school. Later on, we once again conducted the experiments in a way connecting them with the content of the subject. The pupils were then asked to fill in the questionnaire “Subject realisation”. We established that the pupils are motivated for leaning chemistry. They find it relevant when they have to understand the content and when they can use the new knowledge in everyday life. They prefer to learn in a group or in pairs; they also like conducting experiments and solving open-ended tasks. They have a positive attitude towards the subject as they find it amusing, interesting and pleasant. We also found that experimenting at home is a positive motivation for learning chemistry because it gives it sense and renders it more accessible, interesting, imaginable and understandable. Research results suggest that conducting experiments at home has a positive influence on the motivation of pupils for chemistry. Moreover, it is useful if teachers conduct additional experiments during chemistry lessons. Repeating the same experiments at school is even more important for connecting the content of the lesson with home experiments because the pupils have already seen and got a firm grasp of them. The pupils better understand, remember and imagine the content of the lesson. It is vital that the pupils can work in groups or in pairs and learn through research and experiments. The teacher must connect the new knowledge with everyday life, give it sense, and design the activities to motivate the pupils