Children's attitude towards animals can be significantly influenced by adults, stories and myths. In the 7th grade of elementary school, during science lessons, students learn about the structure and function of various animal groups, including reptiles, which includes snakes. Snakes are one of the most unpopular and feared animals among children and adults. Through their actions, teachers influence the development of students' positive, responsible and respectful attitude towards all forms of life. It is recommended that 40 percent of science lessons be based on experiential learning, which includes field and laboratory work. We conducted an empirical research with seventh-graders, with which we wanted to find out how experiential learning, previous direct experience and gender are correlated with the level of fear of snakes and associations with this organism. For this purpose, we conducted a quasi-experiment in two consecutive weeks. During the first week of the research, the students filled out a questionnaire that included the Snake Questionnaire (SNAQ), a method of free association to the word "snake", a question about previous direct experience with a snake, and some demographic questions. In the second week, the students in the experimental group participated in an experiential learning lesson with a snake. This contained three phases: observation, direct experience and self-initiative of the students. In the control group, we conducted the same lesson with the help of visual material and the teacher's explanation. In the second week of the research, both groups completed the same questionnaire again after the lesson. In the first week of the research, 180 students participated in it, in the second week the number of participants decreased down to 148. The students were 12 or 13 years of age. The results showed that experiential learning statistically insignificantly reduces the fear of snakes in 7th grade elementary school students. The students had a low level of fear of snakes even before the lesson. Both types of learning influenced the associations students had with the word "snake." After learning, the students replaced the descriptions of the basic characteristics of snakes and unpleasant feelings with their own observations, feelings and newly acquired knowledge, which was presented during the lessons. Female students showed a statistically insignificant higher level of fear of snakes than male students.
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