Research: Science and Education
Chemophobia in the College Classroom: Extent, Sources, and Student Characteristics Roberta M. Eddy Department of Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705;
[email protected] “Chemophobia” (chemistry anxiety) is assumed to exist in the classroom and thought to be partially responsible for low student enrollment in chemistry. Chemophobia is also thought to impede the learning of chemistry because high levels of anxiety can result in low levels of achievement (1). Yet knowledge of chemistry is essential for making intelligent decisions concerning human welfare. Furthermore, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, necessary in today’s world, can be learned in chemistry laboratory courses. By learning chemistry and working with chemicals, students may be better prepared to solve real-world problems. But what exactly is chemophobia? The literature reveals no clear definition. The term appears to be used in two contexts: fear of chemicals (2, 3) and fear of chemistry as a course (4). However, compared with the research conducted on mathematics anxiety, very few studies have addressed the issue of chemistry anxiety (5–11). Some findings of the few studies on the chemistry anxiety of college students suggest the following: 1. A psychological treatment designed to reduce chemistry anxiety significantly lowers levels of chemistry anxiety and results in higher chemistry grades (9). 2. Students who are successful at learning chemistry appear to have less anxiety than students who are unsuccessful at learning chemistry (10). 3. A significant gender difference exists at the beginning of an introductory chemistry course, but this difference disappears as the course progresses (10). 4. Non-anxious learners who lack ability and able learners who are highly anxious prefer a highly structured method of instruction consisting of explicitly stated objectives, reviews, examples, questions, and feedback (11).
Because so little research has been done on chemistry anxiety, this study was conducted to provide a better understanding of chemophobia at the college level by determining the following: (i) the extent of chemophobia in the college classroom, (ii) the factors that contribute to college students’ anxieties about learning chemistry and handling chemicals, and (iii) the characteristics of college students who have anxiety about learning chemistry and handling chemicals (12). The results can be used to develop strategies to reduce chemistry anxiety so that the learning of chemistry may be improved. Methodology
Instruments To distinguish chemistry anxiety from mathematics anxiety and the student’s own natural level of anxiety, three types of anxiety were measured: chemistry, mathematics, and trait. Trait anxiety was measured by Spielberger’s Trait-Anxiety Scale (Form Y-2) of the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (13). The Trait-Anxiety Scale is a self-evaluation comprising 20 statements that assess how people generally feel. Each state514
ment is given a score of 1 to 4. The overall score is obtained by adding the scores after adjusting for the reversed scores. The higher the score, the more anxiety. For male college students, the mean, standard deviation, and reliability coefficient as Cronbach’s alpha (α) are 38.30, 9.18, and .90, respectively. For female college students, the mean is 40.40, SD is 10.15, and α is .91. Cronbach’s alpha (14 ) is a measure of the reliability of a scale. It is a measure of the internal consistency of scale items—that is, how well they correlate with each other. Cronbach’s alpha can be calculated by the equation (15) α = (k/(k – 1)) * [1 – ∑(s 2i )/s 2sum]
s 2i
(1)
where k is the number of items on the scale, is the variance for an individual item, and s 2sum is the variance for the sum of all items. So the closer alpha is to 1, the more reliable the scale. Math anxiety was measured by the Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (RMARS, x¯ = 56.68, SD = 20.55, α = .98). Plake and Parker (16 ) developed this two-factor, 24-item scale as a shortened version of Richardson and Suinn’s (17 ) 98-item Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS). Factor 1 of RMARS consists of 16 items and is labeled Learning Mathematics Anxiety. Factor 2, Mathematics Evaluation Anxiety consists of eight items. Anxiety levels are measured on a 5-point scale where 1 represents “not at all”; 2, “a little”; 3, “a fair amount”; 4, “much”; and 5 means “very much”. Considering the range of the scale (24 to 120), the mean represents a moderate amount of anxiety. A three-factor, 36-item Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale (DCARS, x¯ = 81.47, SD = 21.31, α = .94) was used to measure the anxiety associated with learning chemistry, being evaluated in chemistry, and handling chemicals. DCARS (derived from RMARS) was developed, tested, and used in previous studies (12). RMARS was used for the development of DCARS because the definition of chemophobia was assumed to be analogous to Richardson and Suinn’s definition of math anxiety and to the definition of mathophobia, a term used by Lazarus (18) to describe the phenomenon of math anxiety. Anxiety levels are measured by DCARS on a 5-level anxiety rating scale where 1 represents “not at all”; 2, “a little bit”; 3, “moderately”; 4, “quite a bit”; and 5 means “extremely” anxious. The range of the scale is from 36 to 180. Thus, the mean represents a moderate level of chemistry anxiety. The items for the three factors of DCARS are listed in the Appendix. Items that were eliminated from the scale after the pilot study are shown in the Box. These items were elimiItems Eliminated from the Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale During the Pilot Study 1. 2. 3. 4.
Dissolving a chemical in water. Weighing a chemical on a balance. Reading the word “chemical”. Watching a teacher handle the chemicals during a demonstration.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 4 April 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
Research: Science and Education
nated because more than 70% of the participants selected level 1 (not at all anxious). These items show situations that apparently are not associated with much chemistry anxiety in this college student sample.
Subjects A questionnaire containing the DCARS, RMARS, TraitAnxiety Scale, and demographic questions was administered at the end of the first class of the Fall 1996 semester to 480 college students who were taking an introductory chemistry course at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The students were 45 Chemistry majors (24 men, 21 women) and 435 Allied Health majors (127 men, 306 women, and 2 who did not identify their gender). Eight interviews were conducted with volunteers who professed to have high anxiety about learning chemistry and handling chemicals. About 12,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students are enrolled at IUP, which is located in a rural setting in southwestern Pennsylvania. The average SAT/ACT 25th–75th percentile scores of enrolled students are 970–1140. Twenty-six percent of enrolled freshmen graduated in the top 10% of their high school class (19). Data Analysis Data analysis was performed by SPSS with p ≤ .05 for all statistical tests (i.e., 95% confidence limits) except in the cases where p had to be adjusted for multiple tests on the same data. The following types of analyses were performed: reliability analysis of all scales and subscales; factor analysis of the chemistry anxiety scale to see if the same three factors emerged as in previous studies and to determine the percent of variance explained by the three factors; frequency analysis; correlation analysis; t-tests for paired samples; and two-way ANOVAs. The 4-level Trait-Anxiety Scale was adjusted to correspond to a 5-level scale before correlation analysis.
Results and Discussion
Reliability Analysis DCARS, Trait-Anxiety, RMARS, and the three subscales of DCARS all had high reliability (Table 1). Scale means and standard deviations were comparable to previously reported values. Correlation Analysis Bivariate correlation analysis with 2-tailed significance at p ≤ .05 resulted in significant correlation coefficients (SPSS p = 0.000) between all the anxiety scales and subscales for chemistry, mathematics, and trait. Although the correlation between chemistry anxiety and trait anxiety is significant (.33), it is not strong. This suggests that there really is something unique about chemistry that makes students anxious. Table 2 displays the significant correlation coefficients between the scales and subscales for chemistry anxiety and the scales for math and trait anxiety. The squared correlation coefficients between chemistry anxiety, math anxiety, and trait anxiety determined the percent of variance that was explained by these variables and the percent overlap of the conMath structs. This enabled a sche- Chemistry anxiety matic representation of the anxiety 53% relationship between chemistry anxiety, math anxiety, and trait anxiety to be drawn 10% 11% (Fig. 1). The relationship beTrait tween chemistry and math anxiety anxiety is much stronger than the relationship between chemistry anxiety Figure 1. Schematic representation and trait anxiety and the re- of the relationships among chemislationship between math try anxiety, math anxiety, and trait anxiety and trait anxiety. anxiety. t-Tests for Paired Samples
Table 1. Results for the Chemistr y Anxiety (DCARS), Math, and Trait Anxiety Scales N
Scale Mean
Scale SD (avg.)
Cronbach’s α
Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale Factor 1, Learning-Chemistry Anxiety Factor 2, Chemistry-Evaluation Anxiety Factor 3, Handling-Chemicals Anxiety
475 477 479 477
2.30 1.91 3.20 2.15
0.61 0.29 0.31 0.33
.95 .93 .91 .89
Revised Math Anxiety Rating Scale
447
2.26
0.57
.95
Trait Anxiety
451
1.96
0.27
.89
Scale
Table 2. Significant Correlation Coefficients between the Scales and Subscales Scale or Subscale
Learning Chemistry Handling Trait RMARS Chemistry Evaluation Chemicals Anxiety
DCARS
.92
.81
.75
.73
.33
Learning Chemistry
—
.65
.58
.71
.28
—
.37
.68
.28
—
.41
.26
—
.31
Chemistry Evaluation Handling Chemicals RMARS
Note: 2-Tailed bivariate correlation analysis at p ≤.05; SPSS p = 0.000 in all cases.
Three t-tests for paired samples were performed with two-tail significance at p ≤ .016 after p ≤ .05 was adjusted for multiple tests. The results showed that the mean anxiety levels for the three subscales of the Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale were all significantly different from each other (SPSS p = 0.000 in all cases). The order from highest to lowest mean anxiety level was Chemistry Evaluation (x¯ = 3.20), Handling Chemicals (x¯ = 2.14), and Learning Chemistry (x¯ = 1.91).
Sources (Activities, Aspects of the Course) That Contribute Most to Chemistry Anxiety Frequency analysis by SPSS ranking survey items by item means of the DCARS data and analysis of the interview data revealed the sources that are associated with the highest anxiety for learning chemistry, being evaluated in chemistry, and handling chemicals. The results of frequency analysis for each subscale are listed in Table 3. The sources that contribute most to Learning-Chemistry Anxiety and to Handling-Chemicals Anxiety are associated with mean anxiety levels between a little bit and moderately anxious, whereas the sources that contribute most to Chemistry-Evaluation Anxiety are associated with mean anxiety levels between moderately and quite a bit anxious.
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Interviews with the high-anxiety students showed that math, answering questions in class, chemistry in general, the fast pace, and no relation to life contributed most to their Learning-Chemistry anxiety. Chemistry tests (both short-answer essay and multiple choice) and not knowing what type of test to expect contributed most to their Chemistry-Evaluation anxiety. Sources that contributed most to their HandlingChemicals anxiety were lighting the Bunsen burner, fire, unstructured labs, acid burns, explosions, and getting chemicals on skin. The interview data about acid burns and getting chemicals on skin agree with the conclusions that can be drawn from the rating-scale data. The rest of the interview data suggest additional aspects that contribute to chemistry anxiety. The finding that unstructured labs contribute to chemistry anxiety implies that inquiry-based learning of chemistry may result in high anxiety for students who feel more comfortable with step-by-step procedures and knowledge of what to observe, what is happening, and why it is happening.
Who Is Afraid of Chemistry? Two-way ANOVA results, with p ≤ .05, revealed that women had significantly higher mean anxiety levels than men on the whole chemistry anxiety scale (SPSS p = 0.000) and on each of the subscales: Learning-Chemistry (SPSS p = .009); Chemistry-Evaluation (SPSS p = 0.000); and HandlingChemicals (SPSS p = .002). The finding of a significant gender effect at the beginning of a chemistry course supports Westerback and Primavera’s reported finding (10). Figure 2 shows this significant gender effect. There was also a significant main effect for chemistry experience (SPSS p = .006). Students with low chemistry experience (two or fewer chemistry courses taken in high school and college) had significantly higher chemistry anxiety than students with high chemistry experience (more than two chemistry courses taken in high school and college). The mean chemistry anxiety level for the students with low chemistry experience was 2.34, whereas the mean for the students with high chemistry experience was 2.17. Two-way ANOVA results showed no significant main effects for type of major (SPSS p = .105) or for math experience (SPSS p = .619). The Chemistry majors statistically had as much chemistry anxiety as the Allied Health majors, and the students with high math experience (more than five high school and college math courses) had as much chemistry anxiety as the students with low math experience (five or fewer high school and college math courses). Furthermore, the results showed no significant interactions between (i) gender and type of major (SPSS p = .861), (ii) gender and chemistry experience (SPSS p = .967), and (iii) gender and math experience (SPSS p = .366). A possible explanation for no significant difference in the chemistry anxiety levels of the Chemistry majors and the Allied Health majors is that the group of chemistry majors included pre-professional students who were in pre-medicine, pre-physical therapy, pre-dental, pre-veterinary, or pre-optometry programs. Medical fields are highly competitive. Since success in chemistry is very influential regarding continuance in these pre-professional programs, student anxiety about chemistry may be high. Another possible explanation is that some of the chemistry majors were repeating the introductory 516
Table 3. Sources Associated with Highest Anxiety for Chemistr y Anxiety Subscales Mean Anxiety Level (SD)
Source
LEARNING CHEMISTRY Being told how to interpret chemical equations
2.48 (1.13)
Reading a formula in chemistry
2.42 (1.05)
Reading and interpreting graphs or charts that show the results of a chemistry experiment
2.28 (1.01)
Picking up a chemistry textbook to begin working on a homework assignment
2.10 (0.96)
Signing up for a chemistry course
2.05 (1.15)
CHEMISTRY EVALUATION Taking a final exam in a chemistry course
3.75 (1.29)
Waiting to get a chemistry test returned in which you expected to do well
3.52 (1.15)
Taking a quiz in a chemistry course
3.22 (1.21)
Being given a homework assignment of many difficult problems due the next chemistry class
3.21 (1.25)
Solving a difficult problem on a chemistry test
3.20 (1.16)
HANDLING CHEMICALS Getting chemicals on your hands
2.57 (1.22)
Spilling a chemical
2.50 (1.01)
Working with unknown chemicals
2.45 (1.15)
Working with acids
2.34 (1.15)
Mixing chemical reagents
2.30 (1.09)
Figure 2. Significant gender effect. Women had significantly higher mean anxiety levels than men on the whole chemistry anxiety scale and on each of the subscales.
chemistry course. Since these students had not been successful in chemistry before, their anxiety levels may have been high. The interview data suggest a possible reason for increased math experience not being related to lower chemistry anxiety. Perhaps the students cannot relate the math to the chemistry regardless of how much math experience they have. Support for this suggestion is evident in the following statements made by two female Allied Health majors—one with low math experience, the other with high math experience. The woman with a weak background in math said, “I can’t put the chemical properties and the math together.” The woman with a strong background in math said, “The fractions I see in chemistry class, like in the factor-label conversion problems—I never had this before in other math classes.”
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Research: Science and Education
Summary Because a convenience sample was used for this study, the results can not be generalized to the entire population of college students. However, for the students in this study, the results indicate that chemophobia does exist in the college classroom at an average level of anxiety between a little bit and moderate. In view of the national recognition of “math anxiety” and the many strategies implemented to deal with this problem, perhaps it is time that these programs be modified to include ways of dealing with chemophobia. The presence of this anxiety in our students could be a contributing factor in the overall poor performance of high school students in science compared to that of students in other nations. This material was presented at the 213th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Division of Chemical Education, San Francisco, CA, April 1997, and the National Science Teachers Association Eastern Regional Convention, Pittsburgh PA, October 1997. Acknowledgment I am very grateful to Krys Kaniasty for his expert guidance. Literature Cited 1. Spielberger, C. D. In Anxiety and Behavior; Spielberger, C. D., Ed; Academic: New York, 1966; pp 361–398. 2. Breslow, R. Scientist 1993, 7(6), 11. 3. Bagget, G. Scientist 1993, 7(15), 12. 4. CHED Newslett. 1995, Fall, 49. 5. Bowen, C. W.; Metz, P. A. CHED Newslett. and Abstracts, 215th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Dallas; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998; 696CHED. 6. Metz, P. A.; Bowen, C. W. CHED Newslett. and Abstracts, 215th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Dallas; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998; 697CHED. 7. Eddy, R. M.; Wood, J. T. Presented at the 211th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, New Orleans, LA, March 1996; Paper No. 0019, Chemical Health & Safety Division. 8. Worman, J. J. Presented at the 211th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, New Orleans, LA, March 1996; Paper No. 0018, Chemical Health & Safety Division. 9. Abendroth, W.; Friedman, F. J. Chem. Educ. 1983, 60, 25–26. 10. Westerback, M.; Primavera, L. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Boston, March 1992; ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 357 977, 20–21. 11. Kozma, R. B. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 1982, 19, 261–270. 12. Eddy, R. M. Chemophobia in the College Classroom: Extent, Sources, and Student Characteristics; Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1996. 13. Spielberger, C. D. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Mind Garden: Palo Alto, CA, 1983. 14. Cronbach, L. J. Psychometrika 1951, 16, 297–334. 15. Cronbach’s Alpha. http://www.oa.uj.edu.pl/~chris/stat/streliab. html#cronbach (accessed Dec 1999). 16. Plake, B. S.; Parker, C. S. Educ. Psychol. Meas. 1982, 42, 551–557. 17. Richardson, F. C.; Suinn, R. M. J. Counseling Psychol. 1972, 28, 551. 18. Lazarus, M. Educ. Digest 1974, 52. 19. National Universities, Tier 3. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/ college/rankings/natunivs/natu_3.htm (accessed Dec 1999).
Appendix: Items for Factors 1, 2, and 3 of the Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale Factor 1. Learning-Chemistry Anxiety
1. Reading and interpreting graphs or charts that show the results of a chemistry experiment. 2. Starting a new chapter in a chemistry book. 3. Reading a formula in chemistry. 4. Picking up a chemistry textbook to begin working on a homework assignment. 5. Watching a teacher work a chemistry problem on the blackboard. 6. Walking into a chemistry class. 7. Being told how to interpret chemical equations. 8. Signing up for a chemistry course. 9. Listening to a lecture on chemicals. 10. Having to use the tables in a chemistry book. 11. Looking through the pages in a chemistry text. 12. Reading the word “chemistry”. 13. Walking on campus and thinking about a chemistry course. 14. Walking on campus and thinking about chemistry lab. 15. Buying a chemistry textbook. 16. Listening to another student explain a chemical reaction. 17. Listening to a lecture in a chemistry class. Factor 2. Chemistry-Evaluation Anxiety
1. Working on an abstract chemistry problem, such as “If x = grams of hydrogen and y = total grams of water produced, calculate the number of grams of oxygen that reacted with the hydrogen.” 2. Waiting to get a chemistry test returned in which you expected to do well. 3. Being given a “pop” quiz in a chemistry class. 4. Taking an examination (quiz) in a chemistry course. 5. Getting ready to study for a chemistry test. 6. Being given a homework assignment of many difficult problems which is due the next chemistry class meeting. 7. Solving a difficult problem on a chemistry test. 8. Taking an examination (final) in a chemistry course. 9. Thinking about an upcoming chemistry test one day before. Factor 3. Handling-Chemicals Anxiety
1. Spilling a chemical. 2. Listening to another student describe an accident in the chemistry lab. 3. Being told how to handle the chemicals for the laboratory experiment. 4. Working with acids in the lab. 5. Getting chemicals on your hands during the experiment. 6. Breathing the air in the chemistry laboratory. 7. Working with a chemical whose identity you don’t know. 8. Mixing chemical reagents in the laboratory. 9. Heating a chemical in the Bunsen Burner flame. 10. Walking into a chemistry laboratory.
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