The Effect of Cooperative Quizzes on Student Performance and Anxiety in Community College Human Physiology Courses

Abstract

Community college students come from a variety of backgrounds and have different levels of educational preparedness compared to undergraduates in 4-year undergraduate schools. Historically, retention rates of these students in human physiology courses have been low, often due to non-passing grades. Incorporation of additional active learning techniques has the potential to benefit learning in this group, which might ultimately benefit retention. However, active learning activities need to be incorporated in a thoughtful manner, because some activities can increase anxiety in students, resulting in unintended consequences such as student withdrawal from such activities. This study introduced cooperative quizzes into community college human physiology classes to determine if they improved student exam performance and reduced student anxiety. The cooperative quizzes were intended to be given in face-to-face classes but were adapted for synchronous broadcast classes using Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the sample of students studied, cooperative quizzes did not have a significant impact on exam grades. However, several students reported a preference for the cooperative quizzes over traditional quizzes. In addition, the intervention did not increase the reported anxiety scores among students, which adds support for the use of cooperative quizzes as an active learning strategy in STEM classes.