The effectiveness of using digital scientific stations in teaching social studies to develop visual thinking and self-learning skills among seventh-grade students

Background/purpose. This study aimed to investigate the impact of employing digital learning stations in teaching social studies on the development of visual thinking and self-learning skills among seventh-grade students. Materials/methods. A quasi-experimental design was used, involving a sample of 57 seventh-grade female students from Um Kulthum Mixed School under the Zarqa First Directorate. Participants were divided into an experimental group (29 students) and a control group (28 students), with the former taught using digital learning stations and the latter taught through traditional methods. The study employed a visual thinking test comprising 15 validated questions and a self-learning scale consisting of 34 validated items to measure the outcomes. Results. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups, favoring the experimental group. The overall visual thinking test scores, as well as all its sub-skills, showed significant improvement, with an effect size of 44.4%. Similarly, significant differences were observed in the overall self-learning scale scores and all its domains, favoring the experimental group with an effect size of 32.1%. Conclusion. The findings suggest that the use of digital learning stations positively enhances visual thinking and self-learning skills among seventh-grade students. It is recommended that history teachers adopt this teaching strategy and that educational supervisors organize training workshops to support teachers in effectively implementing digital learning stations in history instruction.