1. CHEMISTRY LEARNING
ATTITUDE & ANXIETY
First year student attitude and anxiety to chemistry learning
at university
LACHLAN YEE^
2. Wendy Boyd*,Alan Foster*,
Shelli van Santen^, Jubilee Smith*,
William E. Boyd^
The authors gratefully
acknowledge the seed funding
from the
Thanks to students of CHE00201 -
2012 and 2013 cohorts
^
*
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
3. STUDY OBSERVATIONS
• Students bring ‘baggage’ experience with them, some positive, negative and / or
indifferent
• Significantly different pre- and post- session survey
results for both years 2012 and 2013:
• I understand chemical concepts well (p<0.001 both years)
• I feel confident about learning chemistry (p=0.03, p=0.01)
• Human element needs to be addressed before and during content delivery
• Student first, learner centred: Compassion for special consideration,
Assessment alignment, Off campus initiatives for Online students
4. INTRODUCTION
• Anxiousness (anxiety) and negative attitudes can inhibit learning
in general of mathematics and chemistry (for example Trujillo & Hadfield,
1999 cited in Townsend et al., 1999)
• BUT there are Methods of reducing anxiety in chemistry based
education
• Context based approach and curricula (Ultay, 2012)
• Autonomy support and students’ autonomous motivation (Black and Deci, 2000)
Therefore, addressing anxiety towards chemistry could
conceivably eliminate problems for students and improve their
success in learning
5. AIMS AND APPROACH
• Aims: Measurement of initial versus final
attitudes prior to a session’s worth of
teaching (Week 1 vs Week 13)
• Approach:An ethically approved survey asking
students, questions such as
“I feel confident about learning chemistry“,
(The 5 point Likert scale employed consisted of:
Strongly Agree (5),Agree (4), Undecided (3),
Disagree (2) and Strongly Disagree (1)).
6. METHODS: Student questionnaires
• Two student questionnaires were used to poll both
Oncampus and Online engaged students for Unit
CHE00201 first year chemistry, in the School of Environment,
Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University
• Paper based surveys were ethically approved (ECN-11-144)
METHODS: Significance of before and after 1st year
Chemistry experience
• Data from week 1 and week 13 were compared using Mann-
Whitney non paired, non Gaussian distribution test (Prism
software).
7. METHODS: What did students bring to chemistry and why?
• The survey question:”Please describe your own memories of your chemistry
learning experiences prior to this course”, the written statements were coded
according to emerging themes, identifying two axes: attitude and perceived reason.
METHODS: Student group details
• Data such as student age and years since high school were collected from the
survey. Column statistics (median, mean) were determined. Based on column
statistics, appropriate statistical test choices were made. For example, if the
distribution of ages was Gaussian or not.
METHODS: Assumptions
• No effect of filling week 1 survey in lecture theatre or in laboratory during first
week
• No effect of filling in final week 13 survey in lecture or anytime during the final
week
8. THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE* (update)
Time checkpoint Oncampus Online
Week 1
Lectures streamed live to both cohorts
Discussions on anxiety week 1 (including this study)
Assessments equal portion of self + exam pressure
Week 6
Ensure up to date basics
Small tutes in lab (choice)
Quizzes up to date
Quizzes up to date
SelectYTube vids on tchnq.
Preps for resi. / assess
pause
Residential
Homework with solutions
Homework is prep. for
lecture to come
* 4 day, intense
experience modelled on
dojo preparation for
grading (2018)
Week 13
Final exam preparation
Chemistry of earth context
Reflection on how far you’ve come (using lab example)
9. RESULTS• Significantly different pre- and post- session survey
results for both years 2012 and 2013:
• I understand chemical concepts well (p<0.001 both years)
• I feel confident about learning chemistry (p=0.03, p=0.01)
• Significantly different pre- and post- session survey results
for exclusively one of the years 2012 or 2013:
• Studying chemistry will be useful to my training (2012 only, p=0.009)
• I feel anxious about learning chemistry (2012 only, p=0.02)
• I enjoy studying chemistry (2013 only, p=0.02)
10. • No significant difference between
pre- and post- session survey
results for either 2012 or 2013
cohort years:
• I am interested in studying chemistry
• I am keen to learn how to utilise
chemistry well
• It is important to me that I understand
chemistry.
• Chemistry is a necessary part of life
• I struggled with chemistry at high school
• I expected to study chemistry in my course
11. RESULTS: Study group details
• The collective age of students in years 2012 and 2013
were determined to be not significantly different
using a Mann-Whitney non paired, non Gaussian distribution
test (P=0.790, n=27(2012), n=23(2013), Mann-Whitney U
= 296.5) - Figure 1.
• The collective age since High School of students in
years 2012 and 2013 were determined to be not
significantly different using a Mann-Whitney non
paired, non Gaussian distribution test (P=0.715, n=27(2012),
n=23(2013), Mann-Whitney U = 291.5) - Figure 2.
13. DISCUSSION: What did students bring and
why?
• Teachers:
* a good teacher able to inspire great enthusiasm and excitement
* while a poor teacher may cause a lot of negative ‘damage’.
* prior negative experiences can be turned around by teachers
• The discipline itself:
* the concepts, the language, the content – as ‘scary’ (Smith, NatureChem2011)
* core of their enjoyment, enthusiasm and positive experience of learning
• Personal character and behaviour:
* influences included hobbies and pastimes, and the propensity to watch and read about
chemistry outside university
• External stimuli:
* Alternative non-school education was also important for those whose opportunity to
study atTAFE or university turned around their experience of chemistry
14. FUTURE WORK
• Focus on anxiety: focus will be on anxiety, for example, investigate individual
anxiety causes such as tests/exam
• Focus on student growth: Examine ‘climbers’ in attitude, i.e. a shift from
negative to positive attitude as a result of learning chemistry
• Diversification of engagement with students:
- Contextual based chemistry teaching
- Group work using groups to address anxiety,
- Pairing up internal and externals into small study groups
- Provide Blackboard support for electronic communication
• Neuroscience and alternative learning models:
- Cognitive LoadTheory (collaborative pitch)
- Cross pollination with karate martial arts learning model
16. READING LIST / REFERENCES
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