Academic anxiety among first-year biology education students in basic biology courses in Papua

Arini Rahmadana, Adi Rahmat, Lilit Rusyati, Kusnadi Kusnadi, Suriyah Satar

Abstract


Academic anxiety is a significant concern among first-year university students, yet its dimensional profile among biology education students in Papua remains empirically undocumented. This study aimed to describe the level and dimensional patterns of academic anxiety among first-year Biology Education students in the context of their Basic Biology course in Papua. A quantitative descriptive survey design was employed. The samples consisted of second-semester Biology Education students at a state university in Papua Province during the 2023/2024 academic year (n = 33), selected through total sampling. Data were drawn from the anxiety dimension of an instrument adapted from the Learning Stress Perception scale (LSP), comprising 11 items on an 8-point Likert scale, with established content validity and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.70). Anxiety levels were categorized using the Mean ± 1SD normative criterion (M = 4.37, SD = 1.54). Results indicated that the majority of students (69.7%) fell within the moderate anxiety category, with equal proportions classified as low (15.2%) and high (15.2%) anxiety. Across the four dimensions examined, exam anxiety recorded the highest mean, followed by academic and future failure anxiety, learning anxiety, and personal anxiety, with all dimensions falling within the moderate range. These findings contribute preliminary empirical evidence on academic anxiety among first-year biology education students in a geographically underrepresented higher education context in Eastern Indonesia, though they should be interpreted cautiously given the descriptive design and limited sample size.

Keywords


Academic anxiety; Basic biology; Biology education; First-year university

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/aijbe.v9i1.97387

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