Agency in Education: A Psychological Perspective

Hannah Wegner, World History, Harding University High School

Final Unit (PDF)  Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)

Synopsis

This unit teaches students to examine the different factors that affect human agency
in education from a psychological perspective. Students will, after investigating the philosophical
and psychological foundations of human agency, ask what they can do to enhance their own human
agency. They will evaluate case studies that represent human decisions, and create action plans to
enhance human agency in their educations. Students will be able to use their research, readings, and
shared ideas from class discussions to evaluate the meaning of human agency. The unit will take
two weeks to complete and include readings on the theme of human agency and psychology,
individual research projects on a case study, an essay that links their case study with human agency
in their own lives, and an action plan on how to increase the degree of control they exert over any
aspect of their lives that they choose.