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

Instructor Strategies to Alleviate Stress and Anxiety among College and University STEM Students

“…, 2017 ; Cooper et al. , 2018a ; Cooper and Brownell, 2020 ; Downing et al. , 2020 ) and that students employ both adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with this anxiety ( Brigati et al.…”

“…Some techniques, such as cold-calling—asking a student to share a response with the class without the student volunteering—have been identified as producing particularly high anxiety in students ( England et al. , 2017 ; Cooper and Brownell, 2020 ; Waugh and Andrews, 2020 ). Even modifying common techniques, such as cold-calling, to reduce apprehension may still lead to increased student anxiety as compared with not using such techniques ( Broeckelman-Post et al.…”

“…Doing so can lessen stress and anxiety, particularly among students who may not wish to disclose parts of their identities ( Cooper and Brownell, 2016 ). Allowing students to choose their own groups can also lessen fear of negative evaluation by their peers and thus decrease stress ( Cooper and Brownell, 2020 ; Downing et al. , 2020 ).…”

“…Because student anxiety is often driven by fear of negative evaluation, fostering an inclusive and equitable classroom atmosphere where students are comfortable with being wrong can decrease student anxiety and stress and promote a more inclusive classroom ( Cooper and Brownell, 2020 ; Downing et al. , 2020 ).…”

“… Cooper and Brownell (2020) : In this book chapter, Cooper and Brownell summarize the literature on how active learning impacts anxiety in the college science classroom and provide more information on how to best employ active-learning techniques while minimizing stress.…”