Abstract
Our department offers several experimental activities for upper-secondary school students. These activities vary in their respective characteristics, which may appeal differently to various groups of students. This contribution focuses on three specific activities - pure lecture demonstrations, popularizing demonstrational shows and practical lab work. A questionnaire based on Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was administered to students attending these activities. The relationship between situational interest triggered by these activities and students' intention to study STEM at university level was analysed using two-way ANOVA.
The results show that any experimental activity triggers more interest in students prone to studying STEM, yet the capacity of practical work to trigger interest drops most rapidly (out of the three types of activity) with the decrease in intention to study STEM. Popularizing demonstrational shows trigger most interest in all students, yet for students prone towards studying STEM it is comparable to interest triggered by practical lab work.