The project is a collaborative effort involving the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and the California Polytechnic State University that is working to improve the STEM educational community's understanding of how students develop the skills and attitudes necessary for self-directed and lifelong learning. Specifically, the investigators are examining first- and second-year students' conceptions of learning; measuring students' sense of control and responsibility in their learning processes; and evaluating students' skill in using self-regulated learning strategies to respond to diverse learning opportunities and challenges. The project aims to determine (1) how entering STEM students are characterized with respect to self-directed learning skills and attitudes, (2) how STEM students' conceptions of learning, motivations toward learning, and self-directed skills change in the first two years of their undergraduate programs, (3) what are the within- and across-institution differences in students' initial attributes and self-directed learning growth, (4) what are the gender differences in students' initial attributes and self-directed learning growth, and (5) how students evaluate learning experiences with respect to their own self-directed learning development. The project draws upon existing social-cognitive theories of motivation and self-regulation, as well as the investigators' successful practice in autonomy-supportive pedagogies and current studies of self-directed learning in STEM environments. The broader impacts include the enhanced understanding of how students become self-directing, which will inform curriculum development that facilitates the emergence of lifelong learners.
