Dissection in biology education compared to alternative methods in terms of their influence on students' emotional experience.

Introduction: Dissecting animal organs is a method of biology teaching that offers a direct and authentic view into morphological structures and enables hands-on activity and multisensory experiences. However, the dissection process is often associated with certain (negative) emotions that might hinder successful learning. One such emotion that is particularly common during dissection is disgust. Experiencing disgust can negatively affect emotional experiences. Consequently, alternatives for dissection in biology lessons are being sought. Methods: In this study, the method of dissection is compared with two common methods of teaching the anatomy of the mammalian eye: watching a video and working with an anatomical model. The focus of the comparison is on the influence on the following emotional qualities of experience: perceived disgust, perceived interest, well-being and boredom. Two hundred and eighteen students (Mage = 14.19, SDage = 1.02 years, 52% female) from secondary schools in Germany participated in a two-hour lesson on the anatomy of the mammalian eye using one of the three aforementioned teaching methods. Findings: Our results show that perceived disgust was higher for the dissection group than in the ones that worked with a video or a model. We found that dissecting and watching a video led to a similar level of interest, well-being, and boredom. The anatomical model was perceived as less disgusting but more boring than the dissection. The detailed videos of a dissection seem to offer similar positive emotional experiences when compared to dissecting in class and may be an alternative approach when teachers have concerns about performing a real dissection.

"I've Always Thought That I Was Not Good at Experiments "-The Benefit of Non-formal Learning in Terms of Students' Perceived Competence.

Outreach science labs have been established as non-formal out-of-school learning environments in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Previous research has suggested that visiting an outreach science lab can be beneficial in terms of student motivation. Nevertheless, the current research on these out-of-school learning environments lacks studies that investigate important variables for the development of self-determined student motivation, such as perceived competence. In our study, we investigated the moderating effect of the learning environment on the relationship between students' contextual competence perceptions and their situational competence experiences regarding experimentation. For this purpose, 119 students in the first year of the upper secondary school participated in an experimental course on enzymology at an outreach science lab (n = 60) and in their biology classroom at school (n = 59). Our results showed that the relationship between students' contextual competence perceptions and their situational competence experiences during experimentation is moderated by the learning environment. The analyses revealed that students with a higher contextual competence perception showed comparable situational experiences of competence in both learning environments. In contrast, the students who perceived themselves as less competent at a contextual level benefited from experimenting at the outreach science lab in terms of their situational competence experiences.