IDENTIFYING THE CONNECT BETWEEN STUDENTS’ SCIENCE ANXIETY LEVELS AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE
This study aims to explore the effect of an affective variable 'science anxiety' on students' achievement in science subject. By affective we refer to the learners' affect such as emotions, feelings, moods and attitudes involved in teaching-learning process. The chosen sample comprised of 1134 students (532 boys and 602 girls) of class X from 34 schools of Aizawl district of Mizoram. An adapted version of 'Science Anxiety Questionnaire' was used with some indigenous modifications to assess the level of science anxiety amongst the sample. The science anxiety scores of students were correlated with their science achievement scores obtained in class X board examination. Past researches have recognized 'science anxiety' as a negative affect responsible for student's underperformance in science. However, in the present finding the correlation coefficient value was found to be 0.1 indicating a very low but statistically significant positive relationship. This suggested that a minimum threshold level of science anxiety positively becomes the achievement in science. Anxiety levels were found to differ significantly between high and low science achievers, interestingly the high achievers (upper 27%) were found to be more science anxious suggesting that the very low positive relationship between the science anxiety and science achievement of students was contributed more from the high achievers. The findings revealed a significant difference between science anxiety levels of boys and girls, the latter being more science anxious. The chi-square analysis also supported that science anxiety is not independent of gender. KEYWORDS: Achievement in Science, Affect and Science, Science Anxiety, Secondary School Students