The Impact of Anxiety on Learning Chemistry: The Case of Bhutanese Higher Secondary School Students

The study was designed to find out the causes and impact of anxiety towards learning chemistry at higher secondary schools in Samtse district. Two schools located at urban and semi-urban were selected for the purpose. Data was obtained by utilizing both quantitative as well as qualitative data collection method. Anxiety Questionnaire for students (AQS) was administered to identify the causes of the anxiety. In addition, data acquired through semi-interview facilitated researcher to correlate the degree of anxiety among high and low achievers in urban and semi urban schools. Consequently, data triangulation has helped to validate the causes, impact of anxiety in relation to academic performances. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and thematic coding.

The result indicated that the major cause of anxiety in chemistry subject was syllabus anxiety. The finding revealed that students including high, average and low performers of semi-urban school have more anxiety as compared to students of urban school at Samtse district. In other words, students studying in semi-urban location has more anxiety than the students located in urban schools. The study found out impact of anxiety on the academic performances. It was confirmed that a significant negative relationship (r=-.465**, n=114, p=0.001) exist between anxiety and performances of the students in chemistry subject in grade 12. In other words, anxiety has negative impact on the academic performances of the students.

Similarly, the performance of students in chemistry subject in BCSEA examination has been consistently low over the past few years [2-7]. As a result of this study, teachers and educational organizations such as Ministry of Education (MoE), Royal Education Council (REC) and e(ducational colleges will also be informed about the various causes and its impact in learning chemistry. In Bhutan, no study has been carried out regarding the anxiety of the students in learning chemistry and its impact on performances.