Examining the Impact of Laboratory Resource Constraints on Botany Students’ Practical Learning Outcomes in Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan: Does Self-Efficacy and Instructor Support Matter?

Abstract

This research has far-reaching implications due to the expansive groups of key stakeholders involved with laboratory-based instruction: educators, heads of departments, and decision-makers who allocate resources toward improving laboratory-based instruction. Once we have a sense how resources, or their absence, impacts outcomes, then institutions can tackle improvements to the laboratory that are more likely focused. Further, the identification of self-efficacy provided faculty with the justification for developing interventions that may improve students' confidence when conducting experiments. Additionally, the moderating role of instructor support reinforces the importance of pedagogies that enable students to engage with subsequent directed instruction, timely feedback, and personal mentorship. Islamia University of Bahawalpur utilized this study as a means for joining qualitative studies with quantitative studies, and analyzing barriers and facilitators to effective learning in the laboratory. Ultimately, the research findings can and were used as foundational evidence based decision making to enhance science education and students' performance, and hopefully support the development of practical skills shared within in a discipline such as botany or other lab-based disciplines. The study also contributes some theoretical implications related to the influence of cognitive, environmental, and instructional variables and recommendations for improving laboratory education and practice in botany.