Student Anxiety and Fear of Negative Evaluation in Active Learning Science Classrooms

Abstract

Anxiety is increasing in prevalence and becoming a major concern for American colleges and universities. Notably, the push to transition college science courses from traditional learning to active learning spaces has created novel classroom situations that have the potential to both increase and decrease student anxiety. Thus, understanding anxiety in the context of active learning college science courses is timely and could improve student performance and persistence in science. In this chapter, we provide an overview of anxiety, discuss how student anxiety can manifest in the college science classroom, and summarize current literature on student anxiety in active learning classrooms. We present the concept of fear of negative evaluation as an underlying construct of student anxiety in active learning classrooms. Finally, we propose strategies to alleviate student fear of negative evaluation, and consequently student anxiety, in hopes of creating more equitable active learning college science classrooms.