An Investigation of the Effects of Student Produced Electronic Content on the Motivation and High-level Learning Outcomes

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of students’ electronic content on the high-level learning motivation and efficiency in the first grade of elementary school in the science course. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The population of this pseudo-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and control group, was all the girls in the seventh grade of 1395-96 school year. The sampling method was simple randomized cluster and the sample size was 58 (29 in experimental group, and 29 in control group). Data were gathered using Harter’s educational motivation questionnaire and a researcher-made high-level learning efficiency test. The experimental group produced digital course content using PowerPoint software. Control group learned by the simple method and speeches. Analyzing the research, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, tables, and graphs) and inferential statistics (covariance analysis, Leven, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests) were used. The results showed that in the first main hypothesis, i.e. the effects of electronic content produced by students on their motivation, there was no significant difference in (internal and external) motivation between the control group and experimental group (p=0.40). In the second main hypothesis, i.e. the effect of electronic content produced by students on their high-level learning outcomes, there was a significant difference between high-level learning outcomes in the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). It could be concluded in general, engaging the learners in producing the electronic content will increase their high-level learning efficiencies.