Agency, Identity, and Learning in Large Science Classes
The goal of higher education is to develop creative critical thinkers who are adaptable and can act agentically to address complex problems. In the life sciences, many courses still rely on the lecture-memorization model and/or focus solely on the development of disciplinary knowledge and skills. There is an assumption that students already possess or will acquire elsewhere the critical related skills of self-regulated learning, project management, and communication. This is especially true for research-intensive universities, where science programs can have large class sizes and authentic assessment or exposure to disciplinary planning and problem solving is restricted to small, upper-level courses and/or the students who are able to access mentored undergraduate research experiences. We hypothesize that authentic assessments in the form of problem or research-based projects and/or presentations will promote the development of forethought, self-regulation, and self-reflectiveness for the context of disciplinary activities. Is there is evidence for the development of disciplinary agentic self-efficacies in undergraduate students performing projects in lecture courses?