Although the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has somewhat subsided, its aftermath remains evident. While schools adapted quickly to changes, the progress of learning has also slowed down. Reading skills of German primary school students now show a deficit of up to one-third of a school year, which has been directly attributed to the pandemic experiences (Ludewig et al., 2022). Similar declines have been observed in other areas such as mathematics (Schult et al., 2022). These delays are critical, as children need to catch up on existing skills as well as continue acquiring new skills and knowledge.

The transition to a new school is often associated with anxiety due to new teachers, requirements, and social contacts (Tay & Hast, 2022). Following the transition, German students first become familiar with science as a distinct school subject, which builds on skills that have been critically delayed due to the pandemic, such as reading or numerical proficiency. Science anxiety, defined as “a debilitating combination of fearful negative emotion and cognition in the context of science learning” (Bryant et al., 2013, p. 432) hampers general participation in science lessons but also directly affects performance, success (Ucak & Say, 2019), and knowledge acquisition (Theobald et al., 2022). Preventing a domino effect starting with insufficient preparation thus gains importance. Science anxiety is comparatively underexplored but is distinct from test and generalised anxiety (Megreya et al., 2021).

To address the challenge of these three elements meeting – pandemic, transition and science anxiety – the current project aims to investigate science anxiety among German fifth-graders. The project’s goals include adapting an existing science anxiety rating scale (Megreya et al., 2021) for use with German students, In addition, training sessions using mindfulness have shown to alleviate test anxiety and positively impact knowledge acquisition (Theobald et al., 2022), reducing stress by improving attention and emotion regulation (Lam & Seiden, 2020). The project aims to additionally examine whether the implementation of a mindfulness program can successfully reduce science anxiety among German fifth-graders.

The study employed a case study approach involving one public regular school in the north of Germany who transitioned from primary to secondary school in the summer of 2023. The sample consisted of three classes of fifth-graders (N = 67). A quasi-experimental intervention format with a pretest-intervention-posttest design was implemented. Children in all three groups completed a translated form of the abbreviated science anxiety rating scale at the start of the school year. The results of this form the baseline measure. Each of the three participating classes was then allocated a different sequence of tasks. Groups 1 and 2 received six weeks of mindfulness activity at the start of each science lesson. Each lesson began with the Silent 60 exercise, which was then followed by a different mindfulness exercise lasting for around 3 to 4 minutes. Group 3, acting as control group, continued their lessons in the usual approach. After six weeks, all students again completed the science anxiety rating scale. Following, to assess potential delayed effects of improvement, Group 1 continued with the mindfulness activities for another six weeks, but not Group 2. At the end of the second six weeks, all three groups again completed the rating scale.

At the pre-test level, the three groups did not differ significantly in their mean anxiety rating scores, and they suggest moderate science anxiety levels are present in German fifth graders immediately after the transition to secondary school. At the post-test level, Groups 1 and 2 both showed significantly reduced rating scores, indicating reduced anxiety levels, but the control group’s scores were not significantly different. Science anxiety can thus be successfully reduced within six weeks through the implementation of a mindfulness program. Analysis of the final set of ratings is currently outstanding, but continued improvement in Group 1 compared to Group 2 could indicate a longer-term need for the mindfulness program. Improvement in Group 2 on the other hand may suggest an incubator effect. Improvements in the control group could indicate generally delayed improvements, such as increased familiarity with science lessons.

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