EXAMINING THE REASONS OF SCIENCE COURSE ANXIETY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

One of the most important factors which affect learning is the level of students’ anxiety towards the course. This study aims to identify the reasons of students’ anxiety towards science course. The study was conducted in the first semester of 2017-2018 education year and 296 secondary school students in total in 6th, 7th and 8th grades participated in the study. Content analysis technique was used for analysis of data obtained in accordance with students’ views. For reliability of analysis, written expressions of students were coded by two researchers, respectively. According to findings of research, students attribute the reasons of science anxiety to the course (55,4%), teachers (26,7%), their own inadequacies (3,4%), social environments (4,1%), their past experiences (1,7%) and professional anxiety (3,4%). While 2,4 % of students claim that almost everything makes them anxious about science course; 3 percent of students expressed nothing of any anxiety towards science course. It is thought that the findings of this study will play a guiding role for parents and teachers when coping with students’ science anxiety. Understanding the reasons of science anxiety is crucial for teachers in the process of designing their instruction