The relationship between scientific literacy and science self-efficacy of undergraduates enrolled in select Biology classes

Scientific literacy and science self-efficacy have both been the focus of calls from educators and policymakers emphasizing the need to improve and reinforce them in order to improve science education. This study is aimed at examining the relationship between science self-efficacy and scientific literacy, two critical components of science education, to better understand specific correlations between the two. A correlation research design was employed to examine the relationship between undergraduate student science self-efficacy and scientific literacy. The researcher solicited a purposeful sample of students self-enrolled in various Biology courses from a large suburban public university to complete the SELDS and the TOSLS assessment in one sitting. Data were collected through online administration of the SELDS and TOSLS instruments through Qualtrics. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlations, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). An analysis of the results of this study presented a statistically significant relationship between science self-efficacy and scientific literacy as well as between several specific components of science self-efficacy and scientific literacy. Another statistically significant relationship in this study was between self-efficacy for learning and understanding science topics and students'' ability to understand methods of inquiry to develop scientific knowledge. The results of the study can be beneficial to educators working with undergraduate students to help determine or develop their science literacy and science self-efficacy. Furthermore, they can be an important factor in the way that professors curate the learning experience for their students based on their science self-efficacy, self-efficacy to learning, and science literacy. The results of this study can be used to create a study on a larger scale to determine if the outcome was related to the narrow demographics of the participants. It is recommended to conduct this study on a larger scale, expanding to K-12 to develop a better understanding of the dynamics between components of science self-efficacy and scientific literacy.