Epistemic agency as a members’ experience

We present a conceptualization of epistemic agency that centers attention on participants’ experience as a central identifying criterion, including the powered nature of inquiry. This allows us to examine how and by whom the inquiry is defined, navigated, and reified. We draw upon the existing conceptualization of inquiry as a members’ phenomenon to attend to how key epistemic moments—beginnings and endings—allow us to recognize learners’ competence in defining and shaping knowledge products. We take this as an opportunity to sensitize ourselves to issues of power and equity in STEM learning spaces. We argue that viewing epistemic agency as a members’ experience sensitizes researchers and educators to collaboratively decide with learners (rather than for learners) what counts as making progress and identifying paths within and through STEM learning environments.