Differences between boys and girls in extracurricular learning settings

Only few psychological differences between the sexes can be proven empirically. Presented
here is a study about learning in the extracurricular environment of a zoological garden
during a school excursion with particular regard to the differences between boys and girls.
In the main focus are, hereby, motivational and cognitive levels of the aforementioned
learning situation. A pre/post-test design was conducted with 223 fifth graders of the
highest stratification level (Gymnasium). Girls showed a higher degree of intrinsic
motivation and also had statistically significant more knowledge gain in the subscale of
open-ended knowledge-items. The results are discussed within the framework of the
Contextual Model of Learning.