Increasing creative self‐efficacy: Developing the confidence of biochemistry undergraduates to innovate

Abstract

Biochemistry graduates need to be creative, however assessing creativity requires the production of novelty, judged by or against that of peers. A related phenomenon is ‘creative self‐efficacy’ (CSE) – one's self‐belief in producing creative outcomes. CSE is a contributor to creativity, but is more easily assessed, and thus more amenable for targeting pedagogically. To investigate interactions between student CSE and the learning environment, a biochemistry laboratory exercise was deployed within a ‘creative’ module, wherein students created their own experimental protocols. Students completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of the module. Compared to ‘control’ modules lacking overtly creative activities, the creative module significantly increased students' perceptions of their own creativity and whether their studies had increased their creativity. Students' confidence in meeting degree learning outcomes (for instance the ability to work productively in a laboratory), and motivation to study, were also significantly increased. Marks attained from the creative exercise correlated with students' CSE, but surprisingly, students' expected marks correlated negatively with their CSE, implying they had a poor understanding of the relationship between creativity and success. Our results suggest that the learning environment can positively affect students' CSE, promoting academic attainment of learning outcomes, motivation, and their confidence as biochemists.

Exploring the Influence of Personality Traits, Self-Efficacy, and Creativity on Employability for Hospitality and Tourism College Students

“…However, the expected effects of the stages were negatively associated with their CSE, indicating a need for more understanding regarding the connection between creativity and success. These findings suggest that the learning environment can support students' CSE, leading to academic accomplishments, motivation, and confidence in pursuing a biochemistry career [18]. Multidimensional soft skills can lead toward career intentions and career development for university students.…”

Direct and indirect effects of self-directed learning on creativity in healthcare undergraduates: a chain mediation model of openness to challenge and diversity and creative self-efficacy

“…Therefore, strategies aimed to improve CSE that targeted the four key sources of CSE (i.e., mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological affective states) ( Puente-Diaz, 2016 ) could be integrated into programs with a focus on fostering creativity among healthcare undergraduates. Drawing on the teaching strategies that a study proved effective to increase CSE among biochemistry undergraduates in UK ( Payne and Whitworth, 2022 ), educators for healthcare undergraduates could harness and implement measures including providing practice sessions with virtual or standardized patients, facilitating discussion between students in interprofessional education course, and dividing challenging tasks (e.g., case scenario) into smaller sub-tasks to raise their CSE.…”