The Interplay of Students’ Conceptual Understanding, Science Process Skills, and Motivation in Physics Laboratory Modalities in Woldia Secondary Schools

This study investigates the relationship between conceptual understanding, science process skills, and student motivation within different laboratory modalities utilizing a blended Predict-Explain-Enact-Observe-Reflect (PEEOR) inquiry-based model in geometrical optics. A quasi-experimental design was employed with 126 Grade 10 randomly selected students in Woldia secondary schools. The students were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental groups designed to test the PEEOR model but differing in laboratory experience: Blended Lab (BLG, n=40): Combined physical hands-on experiments with virtual PhET simulations. Virtual Lab (VLG, n=43): Used only PhET simulations. Traditional Lab (TLG, n=43): Used only physical laboratory equipment. A six-week intervention aligned with the Ethiopian physics curriculum was given to the experimental groups. Post-intervention data were collected using a conceptual understanding test, a science process skills test, and a motivation questionnaire. As Shapiro-Wilk tests indicated non-normal distribution of post-test scores (p < .05), non-parametric Spearman's rank correlation was used to examine bivariate relationships. Given the continuous nature of the outcome variable, a multiple linear regression was performed to assess predictors of science process skills. Results revealed weak and statistically non-significant correlations between all variable pairs for the combined sample: Conceptual Understanding vs. Science Process Skills (ρ = -0.118, p = 0.189), Science Process Skills vs. Motivation (ρ = 0.137, p = 0.147), and Conceptual Understanding vs. Motivation (ρ = 0.077, p = 0.416). However, multiple linear regression indicated that motivation was a significant positive predictor of science process skills (β = 0.205, p = 0.047), while conceptual understanding was not. The findings suggest that within this specific pedagogical context, the relationships between these key learning outcomes are not straightforward or strongly correlated, indicating they may develop independently. This highlights the need for educators to explicitly target and assess each outcome rather than assuming correlated gains.