INFLUENCE OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL AND THE STUDENTS’ CURRICULA BACKGROUND IN THE AFFECTIVE DIMENSION DURING A SCIENCE COURSE

This research work aims to assess the influence of the instruction methodology and students’ educational background in their affective dimension while learning science in an undergraduate program. Precisely, the study was conducted during 2015/16 in a General Science Course at the Teaching Training School of the University of Extremadura. For this study, a total of 126 students participated and the class group was split into a control and an experimental group. In the control group, a traditional teaching methodology was followed, while in the experimental group a “flipped classroom” setting was arranged. In both cases, the students accessed to the course from different high school curricula background, specifically science, social sciences, arts and technology. According to the results, the instruction methodology as well as the students’ background had a significant influence in their affective dimension. The students enrolled in the experimental group exhibited more positive and less negative emotions in their learning process, and these emotions were more significant in those students from non-scientific background in their pre-university studies. That is especially relevant, since these students were the ones facing more difficulties in learning science and were the most numerous group in the course.