Examining the impact of experiment-centric pedagogy on students’ critical thinking, test anxiety, and motivation while using hands-on technology through pre- and post-activity questionnaires

This study aims to summarize the positive effects of Experiment-Centric Pedagogy (ECP) hands-on tools on students’ ability to think critically, test anxiety, and motivation rate. Using survey-monkey and IBM SPSS, data was gathered, examined, and cleaned. Both remote and classroom lab experiments were used in this study. Thirty undergraduate physics students served as the subjects. The results include analyzed data, photographs, and feedback from students gathered through observation and oral defense of their reports. The study demonstrated that the introduction of the ECP hands-on device changed the learning environment, resulting in (1) an increase in the positive impact of the survey constructs of critical learning and test anxiety, (2) an enhancement of learning enthusiasm, and (3) an increase in motivation rate that enhances their academic performance. There was a significant difference in the pre- and post-test scores of critical thinking and test anxiety (p<0.05). All these observations account for the high impact of ECP on students’ critical thinking, test anxiety, and motivation via hands-on devices.