Exploratory Thinking and Agency

I came across a definition of human agency as “the ability to generate choices and select from among them” (here).

If that is what makes for agency – and it seems a reasonable definition – then the skills and habits of designers – exploratory thinking in particular – suddenly become something everyone should learn and practice in general education. In fact, design ability – including discovering your aims, values, and possibilities by asking ‘What if?’ – is *the same thing* as human agency defined as such.