Enhancing third-grade students’ academic achievement and scientific attitudes through experimental demonstrations on alternative energy in Arab-community schools

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of experimental demonstrations on the academic achievement, conceptual understanding, and attitudes toward science of third-grade students, with a focus on alternative energy topics. Conducted in an Arab-community middle school in Northern Israel, the research involved 120 students, divided equally into an experimental group (n = 60) and a control group (n = 60). The experimental group received instruction through hands-on demonstrations related to solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal energy, while the control group was taught using traditional methods. Employing a mixed-methods design, data were collected through academic tests, attitudinal questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that students in the experimental group achieved significantly higher post-intervention scores (mean [M] = 82.62, standard deviation [SD] = 12.93) compared to the control group (M = 71.28, SD = 15.06), with a statistically significant difference (t [118] = -2.58, p < .01). Additionally, the experimental group demonstrated a significantly greater understanding of alternative energy concepts (M = 3.27, SD = 0.42) than the control group (M = 2.82, SD = 0.53), (t [58] = -3.42, p < .001). Attitudinal measures also favored the experimental group (M = 3.34, SD = 0.44) over the control group (M = 3.09, SD = 0.64), with a significant difference (t [118] = -2.12, p < .05). These results advocate for integrating demonstration-based teaching to enhance science education outcomes, particularly in sustainability topics. © © 2026 by authors;

Keywords

Author Keywords

academic achievement alternative energy experimental demonstrations science education student attitudes

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Academic Arab College for Education, Haifa, Israel, The Science Education Center, The Galilee Society, Shefa-Amr, Israel

Academic Arab College for Education, Haifa, Israel

The Science Education Center, The Galilee Society, Shefa-Amr, Israel, Al-Qasemi Academic College of Education, Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Haifa, Israel

Funding & Acknowledgements

Grant: 222-11-093

Author contributions: MH: supervision, conceptualization, project administration, writing \u2013 original draft; ML: data curation, writing \u2013 original draft; SA: formal analysis, writing \u2013 original draft. All authors approved the final version of the article. Funding: This article was supported by the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure under grant 222-11-093. Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure for their valuable support. Ethics declaration: This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committees. Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from all participants and their guardians before data collection. No identifying information was collected, and all responses were kept strictly confidential. Declaration of interest: The authors declared no competing interest. Data availability: Data generated or analyzed during this study are available from the authors on request.

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Enhancing third-grade students’ academic achievement and scientific attitudes through experimental demonstrations on alternative energy in Arab-community schools

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