TY - JOUR
T1 - “I like and prefer to work alone”
T2 - Social anxiety, academic self-efficacy, and students’ perceptions of active learning
AU - Hood, S.
AU - Barrickman, N.
AU - Djerdjian, N.
AU - Farr, M.
AU - Magner, S.
AU - Roychowdhury, H.
AU - Gerrits, R.
AU - Lawford, H.
AU - Ott, B.
AU - Ross, K.
AU - Paige, O.
AU - Stowe, S.
AU - Jensen, M.
AU - Hull, K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation Community College Anatomy and Physiology Education Research (CAPER) Award Abstract No. 1829157.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 S. Hood et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education and The American Society for Cell Biology.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Although active learning improves student outcomes in science, technology, engineer-ing, and mathematics (STEM) programs, it may provoke anxiety in some students. We examined whether two psychological variables, social anxiety (psychological distress relat-ing to the fear of negative evaluation by others) and academic self-efficacy (confidence in one’s ability to overcome academic challenges), interact with student perceptions of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) and associate with their final grades in a STEM-related course. Human anatomy and physiology students in community college courses rated various EBIPs for their perceived educational value and their capacity to elicit anxiety (N = 227). In general, practices causing students the most anxiety (e.g., cold calling) were reported by students as having the least educational value. When controlling for students’ self-reported grade point averages, socially anxious students rated several EBIPs as more anxiety inducing, whereas high-efficacy students reported less anxiety sur-rounding other EBIPs. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that individual differences in academic self-efficacy at the beginning of the term explained some of the negative association between students’ social anxiety levels and final grades in the course. Our results, obtained in a community college context, support a growing body of evidence that social anxiety and academic self-efficacy are linked with how students perceive and perform in an active-learning environment.
AB - Although active learning improves student outcomes in science, technology, engineer-ing, and mathematics (STEM) programs, it may provoke anxiety in some students. We examined whether two psychological variables, social anxiety (psychological distress relat-ing to the fear of negative evaluation by others) and academic self-efficacy (confidence in one’s ability to overcome academic challenges), interact with student perceptions of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) and associate with their final grades in a STEM-related course. Human anatomy and physiology students in community college courses rated various EBIPs for their perceived educational value and their capacity to elicit anxiety (N = 227). In general, practices causing students the most anxiety (e.g., cold calling) were reported by students as having the least educational value. When controlling for students’ self-reported grade point averages, socially anxious students rated several EBIPs as more anxiety inducing, whereas high-efficacy students reported less anxiety sur-rounding other EBIPs. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that individual differences in academic self-efficacy at the beginning of the term explained some of the negative association between students’ social anxiety levels and final grades in the course. Our results, obtained in a community college context, support a growing body of evidence that social anxiety and academic self-efficacy are linked with how students perceive and perform in an active-learning environment.
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U2 - 10.1187/cbe.19-12-0271
DO - 10.1187/cbe.19-12-0271
M3 - Article
C2 - 33600218
AN - SCOPUS:85101772282
SN - 1931-7913
VL - 20
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - CBE life sciences education
JF - CBE life sciences education
IS - 1
M1 - ar12
ER -