Can Test Anxiety Interventions Alleviate a Gender Gap in an Undergraduate STEM Course?

ABSTRACT: Gender gaps in exam scores or final grades are common in introductory college science and engineering classrooms, with women underperforming relative to men with the same admission test scores or college grade point averages. After failing to close a historically documented gender gap in a large introductory biology course using interventions targeted at training a growth mindset, we implemented interventions designed to reduce student test anxiety. We combined evidence-based exercises based on expressive writing and on reappraising physiological arousal. We also used a valid measure to quantify test anxiety at the start and end of the course. This instrument measures an individual's self-declared or perceived test anxiety-also called trait anxiety-but not the immediate or "state" anxiety

SUBMITTER: Harris RB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6755309 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature