Students’ attitude towards physics: Its influence on their performance before and after the use of interactive simulations

Science education, particularly physics, remains a priority for many countries, as their future economic prosperity is closely linked to student success in science and technology. Given the persistent challenges faced by teachers in stimulating students’ interest in this discipline, the integration of innovative teaching methods has become essential. This study aimed to examine changes in students’ attitudes toward physics and explore the correlation between these attitudes and their performance before and after using interactive simulations based on the 5E learning model. This study was conducted with 127 Moroccan middle school students, who were divided into experimental and control groups. The teacher utilized interactive simulations to teach electricity and mechanics to the experimental group (N = 62) while adopting conventional teaching methods for the control group (N = 65). To compare the students’ attitudes and performance, the same attitude test was administered as a pre-test and a post-test before and after the study’s implementation. Additionally, students’ performance was obtained from the results of the first (pre-performance) and second (post-performance) semester physics exams. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences V24. The results show that using interactive simulations based on the 5E in physics teaching and learning has a positive impact on students’ school performance and attitudes. Furthermore, the study showed no significant difference between boys and girls in their attitudes toward physics before and after the intervention. Additionally, the results indicated a significant positive correlation between students’ attitudes toward physics and their performance in physics.