Implications of practical activities in the Skills and Simulation Laboratory on students' motivation and feelings

to verify the implications of practical activities in the Skills and Simulation Laboratory on the motivation and feelings expressed by undergraduate students when returning to face-to-face activities after the social isolation caused by COVID-19 pandemic. a quasi-experimental study, with a single group and of the pre- and post-test type, carried out through an educational intervention based on skills training on medication administration and venipuncture, with medical students from a Brazilian public university. The sample was comprised by 47 students. The instruments of students' characterization and self-perceived feelings and the Situational Motivation Scale were used for data collection. in the sample, 98% mentioned the lack of practical activities during the pandemic. The most frequently described feeling was anxiety. After carrying out the activity, there was a change in the frequency of expressed feelings, although there was no significant change in motivational levels. External Regulation (5.1 - 5.6), Identified Regulation (6.1 - 6.4) and Intrinsic Motivation (5.6 - 6.0) presented high results, showing similarity to the feelings reported by the learners. motivation is essential for effective learning and the use of active methodologies reinforces skills built in an affective way in the students facing the learning process.