"Primärerfahrung" (PE) describes direct contact with learning objects; in biological education with plants or animals in particular. Visualising these objects using videos, books, etc, can be classified as "Sekundärerfahrung" (SE) because the information is not presented in the "original" way. In this intervention study, a teaching unit was conducted with living invertebrates (PE treatment, n = 35) and educational videos of these animals displayed on laptops (SE treatment, n = 29) to ensure identical instructional settings in group work. Affective dimensions (interests, attitudes, learning climate) and cognitive dimensions (declarative and conceptual knowledge) were recorded with validated items in pre-, post- and follow-up tests. Compared with the SE treatment, the PE treatment achieved knowledge at a significantly higher level (d = 0.30) and showed more significant changes in almost all attitude dimensions. The results are discussed with consideration to general implications for biological education.