2 YC, joule/ Anxiety Reduction for Beginning Chemistry Students Walter Abendroth and Frank Friedman Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN 47591
Many college students are dismayed when they learn that they are required to take a chem~stryclass. They may have never taken chemistry in high school or they may have had an unpleasant experience when they did take a chemistry course. When these students enroll they are anxious. Their anxiety makes the course even more difficult than necessary. Psvcholopists have demonstrated that high anxiety has a negative impact on school grades.' ~ e n e r dtechniques for treating anxiety have been used on campus for several years including the successful treatment of test anxiety. Our goal was to develop a treatment program specific to chemistry anxiety. The first step was to ascertain the student's general level of chemistry anxiety and then differentiate the various stressors responsible for the anxiety. Techniques were Lhen developed to reduce the anxiety. the results of a uilot studv conducted This . paper . aresents . in a precollege chemistry course during the summer of 1981. Anxiety reduction was incorporated into the chemistry lah sessions with the goal of reducing chemistry anxiety and increasing academic performance
their laboratory stations. The control group students also completed the pretest during their first lab session, but the remainder of t,he treatment was omitted. Session 11 Students were asked to write briefly any unpleasant memories they had of past experiences with science or math subjects. The class was then divided into three small groups and they shared their lists. The facilitator then listed examples from the groups. Two points were emphasized by the facilitator: (1)many students had similar negative experiences, and (2) past negative experiences often caused present anxieties which can he reduced by treatment. The facilitator then took the class through an exercise on how to relieve temporarily tension through hreathing. A handout Hou to Reduce Your Level of Test Anxiety by Changing Your Thinhing was given to the students a t the c o n c l u ~ i o n . ~ Session 111 Students were asked to list their current worries about
Method
Subjects The subjects were forty students enrolled in SCM103 Introduction to Chemistry during the summer session of 1981. Seventeen enrolled first summer session and served as the treatment group and 23 enrolled in the second summer session and served as the control group. Design This research used a quasi-experimental design2. Subjects could not he assiened to .. erouDs . randomlv since the research utilized intact classes in consecutive summer sessions. The desien is a non-randomized control croup, retest-posttest des& as shown below. Group
Pretest
Treatment
Treatment Control
x
x
Y
x
-
x
lists in small groups and thefacili&or discussed examples from the groups. When the students returned to their individual lab stations, the facilitator discussed physical tension and led them through an exercise which tensed and then relaxed their necks, backs, and legs. Session lV Students were introduced to the idea of how thoughts or self-talk can be self-defeating. They then completed the checklist, "Negative Self-Talk," and discussed their most prevalent negative thoughts with their partners. The session ended with the facilitator taking them through an autogenic relaxation exercise. Session V
Poattest
Treatment and Procedure A treatment program for helping heginning chemistry students alleviate their anxiety was incorporated into the regular lab sessions. Seventeen students enrolled in SCM103 Introduction to Chemistry the first summer session. The course met 5-'19 hours dailv for five weeks. A counselor from classes. The following is a brief description of the treatment sessions which were entitled "Couinc with Stress or Chemistry, So Who's Worried?" Session I: Introduction and Assessment Introductory remarks to the class included a brief overview of topics to be covered and examples of how emotional stress can affect the hody and academic performance. Students were then given the "Chemistry Anxiety Scale: Pre" (see Appendix) and discussed their two greatest concerns with a partner a t
could use just prior and during the test. Then the previous methods of relaxing were reviewed. The session concluded with the students completing an evaluation of the treatment program. Immediately before their first exam all students, treatment and control, completed the "Chemistry Anxiety Scale: Posttest."
Presented to the Seventy-third two-year college chemistry conference, Central Piedmont College, Charlotte. NC. December 4, 1981. Spielberger. C. D., "The Effects of Anxiety on Complex Learning and Academic Achievement," C. D. Spielberger, (Editor),"Anxiety and Behavior," Academic Press. New York, 1966, pp. 361-398. Campbell, Donald T., and Stanley, Julia" C., Experimental and Quasi-ExperimentalDesigns for Research, Randy McNally, Skokie, IL,
'
1966.
Copies of this and other handouts mentioned in the article may be obtained from the authors. Volume 60
Number 1 January 1983
25
Results
Chemistrv Anxietv Scale Item Analvsis
Selection Differences T h e major threat t o internal validity i n t h e quasi-experimental design employed in this study is t h a t a selection difference could exist. Since intact classes were used, i t is possible t h a t t h e groups differed in academic ahility or chemistry anxiety before t h e treatment was applied. Therefore, prior academic ahility was analyzed by using t h e S A T scores. results. Chemistrv anxietv level was analvzed usine..the Dretest , 111 11%~h ,TL.P< 1 1 8 - ~ ~ n ~ r i ,d~i i it w ~ rit tl t , 3 I I C . I W ~ I B thv g r < ~ p w t r e ~ . m n i l r = - 1 In. 1 -I 2 4 .. rc,nwt1\.~4\.1. . .. IIt,n.e\er. th,. control group was marginally superior ( p = 0.08) on t h e SAT scores.
Item
C 0
N T
5 6 L 7 8 9 10 11 12 Overall
T
Pretest O n the Chemistry Anxiety Pretest, there were no significant differences between t h e treatment a n d control groups (fi 31.2, i% = 32.1; t = -.24). T h e item-by-item pattern of anxiety scores between the groups was very similar yielding a correlation of 0.75. Tahle 1 presents the mean anxiety score for each item on t h e pretest and t h e posttest.
R E
A
T M E
Discussion The chemistry anxiety level of community college students enrolled in a pre-college chemistry course appears to be quite high. The students are especially worried about their course grade, solving mathematical problems, coping with a teacher who might not he understanding, working in a chemistry laboratory, and just hearing the word "chemistry." These fears might be based on prior experience or merely on the stereotype students have concerning chemistry. In either case, thes; fears can be debilitating. The present study investigated a treatment designed to reduce chemistry anxiety. The treatment, utilizing state of the art psychological techniques, was designed and implemented by a psychologist at the request of a chemistry professor. The treatment enabled s t u ~ dents to recognize their chemistry anxieties, talk about them, and experience relaxation techniques. Variations of the treatment described in this paper are possible but these three components appear necessary to the success of any such attempt. The treatment used in this study lasted only 2.5 hours which was merely 2% of the course time. Yet the results showed that this treatment significantly lowered the level of chemistry anxiety and resulted in higher chemistry grades. Each of the specific anxieties mentioned above was reduced significantly after this short treatment.
26
Journal of Chemical Education
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 N 8 T 9 10 11 12
(e
Achievement Does reduced anxiety lead t o better performance in class? T h i s cannot be answered unequivocahly because t h e two classes were taught hy different professors. However, despite marginally higher S A T scores, t h e control group grades were significantly lower in this chemistry course (Fc = 2.35, FT = 2.94; t = 1.68, p < 0.05 one tailed).
4
R 0
-
Posttest T h e mean anxiety score for the treatment group = 27.9) was significantly lower than t h e mean for t h e control group (Zc = 31.69: t = -2.02. . .D < 0.05). An analvsis of t h e Dosttest minus pretest difference scores indicated a signifiiant decrease i n anxiety level for t h e treatment rrrouD ( t = -3.12. o < 0.01) b u t no difference for t h e control group ( t = -0.36): Tahle 1 shows a n item by item analysis of t h e difference score. As one might expect t h e control group experienced a significant decrease in anxiety t o t h e word "chemistry" and were less worried about t h e teacher failing t o he understanding. T h e treatment group also experienced these significant declines h u t in addition became significantly less anxious about their grades in chemistry class, their work i n a chemistry lab, and being able t o solve mathematical problems. In a n evaluation of the treatment by t h e 17 subjects most students h a d a favorahle reaction t o t h e treatment a n d recommended i t t o other chemistry students.
1 2 3
Overall p *p
Pretest
Posttest
Difference
t
2.39 2.96 2.69 2.48 2.43 2.17 2.74 2.91 2.04 3.74 2.26 3.13 2.67 2.59 2.71 2.53 2.12 2.35 2.71 2.88 2.76 1.82 3.71 2.59 2.41 2.60
2.52 3.39 3.30 2.35 2.48 2.39 2.17 2.78 1.83 3.91 2.30 2.70 2.64 2.47 2.35 2.53 2.18 2.24 2.00 2.12 2.76 1.65 3.24 2.35 1.94 2.33
0.13 0.43 0.61 -0.13 0.05 0.22 -0.57 -0.13 -0.21 0.17 0.04 -0.43 -0.03 -0.12 -0.36 0 0.06 -011 -0.71 -0.76 0 -0.17 -0.47 -0.24 -0.48 -0.27
100 1.31 1.93' -0.52 0.20 0.94 -2.35' -0.04 -1.37 0.79 0.58 -2.17' -0.36 -1.17 -2.40' 0 0.56 -0.56 -2.7E2 -4.74* 0 -1.00 -3.772 -1.46 -1.93' -3.1Z2
< 0.05 onetailed < 0.01 one failed
The results of this study cannot stand alone. Different instructors taught the two chemistry courses and hoth were aware of the experiment being conducted. These potential biases could have influenced the results. Further investigation is needed to determine the true effects ofthe treatment. However, it appears that a collaborative effort of this sort, hetween the chemistry department and the counseling center, holds promise for aiding students. Appendix: Pre- and Posttest Chemistry Anxiety S c a l e For each of the six activities below, rate your feelings when you think about doing these things. If the activity is enjoyable, put an "x" an the line under the 1. If it makes you extremely worried and tense, place an "x" under the 5. If your feelings are in between these extremes, decide how you feel and place an ' Y i n the appropriatespace on the line. ENJOYABLE ACTIVITY 1
WORRIED AND TENSE 2 3 4
5
TERMS fii WORKING IN A
CHEMISTRY I,AR
sponse. 1) Hearing the word "chemistry" scares me. 2) It worries me that people I know have failed ehemistry. 3) The things studied in chemistry class have no persrmd meaning for me. 4) 1 worry that I will not get a good grade in chemistry. 5) I worry that I could cause an explosion in chemistry lab. 6) It worries me that a chemistry teacher will not be understanding.
SA A U D SD SA A U D SD SA A U D SD SA A l l D SD SA A U D SD SA A U D SD
