Self-Efficacy in Learning Science

Synonyms

Capacity beliefs

Self-Efficacy Beliefs for Science Teachers and Students

Teachers and students hold beliefs about their capabilities for teaching and learning science. These self-perceptions about personal abilities to manage engagement with science have been shown to causally influence success through motivation and the ability to do what is necessary in a given science learning environment. Such beliefs are known as self-efficacy beliefs and are different from more general beliefs of self-confidence and self-esteem in that they are targeted at specific future performance. Since all self-efficacy beliefs, including those for teaching and learning science, are malleable and have a causal relationship to success, it can be useful to include them in strategies to improve science education.

Self-efficacy study is rooted in Bandura’s (1997) social cognitive theory and is composed of two dimensions: efficacy predictions and outcome expectations. These reflect the position that...