Alleviating Statistics Anxiety Through Contract Grading
By Kristie Campana and Jeffrey Ford
Teaching statistics at the college level can be a tricky proposition for an instructor. Given that nearly 93% of US adults report some level of math anxiety, one major task for an instructor is breaking through students’ fear of the subject (1). Additionally, the way math is taught in the US is unlike any other subject. Consider how differently our education system treats a student who struggles with reading versus one who struggles with math. Reading is viewed as an essential life skill, so students who have difficulty with this topic are given extra resources and time to master this skill so they will be functional in society. Meanwhile, with math, students who struggle often reach a point where they fail or just barely pass a class (often at the pre-algebra or algebra level) and parents or teachers imply they have “hit their limit” on math and should no longer pursue it as a subject. In other words, many students’ final experience with formal math education is failure.
Mastery Versus PERFORMANCE Orientation for Learning
One way instructors can help relieve anxiety among students is by helping them to shift their learning from a performance orientation to a mastery orientation. Performance orientation is when an individual views their goal as being more successful than others without putting forth much effort. Typically, students who have this type of orientation link their ability to succeed as a reflection of their self-worth. Failures are viewed as an indication that the student is unworthy or untalented. Meanwhile, with mastery orientation, the learner views developing and improving as the ultimate goal. Students with a mastery orientation recognize that improvement takes effort, and experiences of failure are seen as a routine part of the learning process. That is, talent is not innate; it is built through practice (2). It makes sense, then, that helping students move towards a mastery orientation in a statistics course will help them to feel less anxious about the subject.
Research has demonstrated that students achieved the largest reduction in anxiety when instructors use “mid-stakes” assessments (3). As opposed to high-stakes assessments (where students get one opportunity to pass the assessment) and low-stakes assessments (where passing an assessment has no impact on the student’s grade), mid-stakes assessments allow students to attempt an assessment, receive feedback on that assessment, and then try again. In this approach, mistakes lead to more opportunities to practice and learn, rather than leading to the permanent loss of points in the course.
Applied Example
In 2019, Dr. Campana instituted this approach in an Advanced Statistics course. There were 3 main tasks in this course. First, students were to read the textbook and demonstrate they understood the general concepts on short quizzes and an exam. Second, students had to apply what they were learning to homework problems that required them to properly conduct statistical tests using a program (R or SPSS), and properly write up their findings in APA style. Third, for their applied project, students had to generate a research question and analyze either obtained or generated data to answer their research question. For all of these items, students had almost unlimited chances to redo tasks that they had previously failed on. This way, mistakes would not be devastating to their grade, as long as they learned from their mistakes and improved on subsequent attempts or revisions. See Figure 1 for an abbreviated grading contract.
Thus, if a student failed a homework question asking them to conduct a correlation, they could visit the instructor, get feedback on how to resolve the problem, and re-submit the question during the next due date. Some students needed 2 or 3 rewrites of a problem before they fully understood the concept. However, this approach allows students to take extra time to review and practice a concept if they need it before considering it mastered, rather than trying to apply a set assignment schedule to a class with diverse skill levels. Students were frequently very frustrated with the difficulty of the course, but as they progressed through the content, many shared that they felt proud of their hard-won successes, and found that the contract grading helped alleviate the time pressure and stress that typically accompanies learning about statistics.
For more information see:
Sal Khan’s TedTalk on Teaching for Mastery: https://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores?language=en
References
(1) Luttenberger, S., Wimmer, S., & Pachter, M. (2018). Spotlight on math anxiety. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 11, 311-322.
(2) Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom: Students’ learning strategies and motivation process. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 260-267.
(3) Putwain, D. (2008). Do examinations stakes moderate the test anxiety–examination performance relationship? Educational Psychology, 28, 109–118.