Abstract:
The study investigated causes, effects and management of science anxiety
among senior high school students in the Old Tafo Municipality of the Ashanti
Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The
sample was made up of 337 students selected from a population of 2700
students from Osei Kyeretwie Senior High School and Al Azhariya Islamic
Senior High School, using stratified random sampling procedure. Data were
collected through Science Anxiety Scale (Güzeller & Doğru, 2012) and
analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that
the respondents had moderate level of science anxiety in relation to doing
science homework, getting low position in class, the attitude of the science
teacher, entering science class and solving problems related to science. The
study also revealed that the causes of science anxiety revolve around the
demands of the content and the lack of infrastructure and teaching materials to
make the content practical and easy to understand. The study showed that
science anxiety affects performance negatively, reduces interest of students in
science, prevents students from pursuing science subjects in future and affects
school attendance. Finally, the strategies which can help reduce science
anxiety included providing facilities and infrastructure and teachers making
the study of science easier and interesting. From the findings, it was
recommended that school counsellors in various schools should conduct
science anxiety assessments for their students to identify the level of science
anxiety of individual students so that measures can be taken to assist
individual students
