This master’s thesis determines whether teaching with creative movement in the first grade during science lessons affects students' motivation and well-being, as well as their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
The theoretical part includes a description of the science subject, its objectives, content, and thematic units covered within the subject. Various teaching approaches are presented, such as the traditional teaching approach and the constructivist teaching approach. It also introduces creative movement as a teaching approach, the advantages of incorporating creative movement in class, and the significance of creativity and movement in education. Furthermore, the role of the teacher when integrating creative movement into class is also described. The empirical part of this thesis presents a study conducted in two first-grade classes in an elementary school within the school subject of science. Each class had 14 participating students in the study. The study was carried out in such a way that one group of students was taught without using creative movement, primarily employing a frontal teaching method. The other group was taught using creative movement. In this manner, five lessons were conducted in each class. Students' motivation was documented using observational forms. The well-being in the classroom was assessed using a five-point scale. The knowledge of students in both groups was evaluated with knowledge assessment forms before and after lessons. All lessons were analysed at the conclusion of the study.
The research findings indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in knowledge between the experimental group of students and the control group. Nevertheless, the progress in knowledge within the experimental group was slightly greater on average than that in the control group. Creative movement positively influenced the motivation of students in the experimental group. The motivation in this group increased from hour to hour, whereas it decreased in the control group. This led to increasing differences in motivation between the groups. Statistically significant differences in motivation were observed during the fourth and fifth lessons, thus proving the positive impact of creative movement on motivation. The study did not show statistically significant differences in well-being between the two groups for most lessons, but the experimental group's well-being improved from one lesson to the next. Statistically significant differences emerged in the last lesson, indicating that when teaching with creative movement for several lessons in a row, well-being in the classroom also improves.
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