Gratitude Interventions in a Biology Course to Foster Student Persistence and Success

Abstract

College students are experiencing a mental health crisis, which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is problematic because stress and anxiety impede learning. One way to combat stress and anxiety is to focus on gratitude, the emotion experienced when we are thankful for positive aspects of our life. In the classroom gratitude has been associated with higher classroom engagement, higher school life satisfaction, higher academic motivation, and higher academic retention. Importantly, a grateful attitude can be taught with interventions. However, more information regarding the implementation and effects of gratitude interventions in the STEM college classroom is needed. Here I describe two simple gratitude interventions that I implemented in an Introduction to Scientific Analysis course in a Biological Sciences Department. A treatment section received gratitude interventions that included 1) keeping a weekly gratitude journal (<em>e.g.,</em> listing five things you are grateful for), and 2) writing three letters of gratitude throughout the semester. A control section received regular curriculum. Preliminary comparison of treatment and control sections indicated these interventions are indeed successful at increasing student gratitude. For example, students reported feeling grateful more frequently after the gratitude interventions than they did before the interventions. Student feedback regarding the gratitude interventions was also overwhelmingly positive. Ultimately, the relatively simple technique of gratitude interventions could be easily implemented across a variety of higher education courses to have long-term positive effects and foster student success. <em>Primary Image:</em>&nbsp;Image of an example gratitude journal.