Journal Club: Fostering Students' Sense of Belonging

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Doane University Bridge to Science and Mathematics Program participants. This summer bridge program for high school students matriculating into Doane University with an interest in STEM fields focuses on creating a sense of community among a cohort of science and mathematics students who belong to groups historically underrepresented in STEM.

Overview

Whether students feel they "belong" -- in their courses, in their chosen major, and at their institution -- has a significant impact on their course of study and choice of career path. This group reads and discusses a few short, very accessible articles about fostering our students' sense of belonging. Participants choose one or more evidence-based strategies from the articles to implement and offer each other feedback on their plans. These strategies have been shown to have a profound impact on student success and persistence in STEM.

Discussion series goals

The goal of these meetings is for each participant to find research-based strategies that they can implement and to develop a plan for implementation.

Structure and format

Prior to the first meeting:

• Participants read two articles that summarize key findings from the research into college students' sense of belonging in STEM:
  • Aguilar et al., 2014. Psychological insights for improved physics teaching: Physics Today, v. 67, n. 5, p. 43.
  • Yeager and Walton, 2011. Social-Psychological Interventions in Education: They're Not Magic: Review of Educational Research, v. 81, n. 2, pp. 267-301.
• By 2 days before the 1^st meeting:
  • Participants post a short reflection on our (password-protected) discussion board.
    • What did you find interesting or surprising in these papers?
    • What questions do you have about the research they describe? What do you want to know more about?
  • Participants read each other's posts.

1^st meeting:

• Discussion of the comments and questions posted on the discussion board.
• The discussion coordinator takes notes during the discussion on our (password-protected) notes page.

Prior to the second meeting:

• Participants read articles relevant to the topics arising from our first discussion
  • Each participant chooses an article related to sense of belonging in STEM. I've posted a bunch of possibilities in the reference list. References cited in our first two readings are also good choices, and/or participants can find their own articles to read.
• By 2 days before the 2^nd meeting:
  • Participants post a short reflection on our discussion board.
    • What did you find interesting or surprising in the paper you read?
    • What questions do you have about the research they describe? What do you want to know more about?
  • Participants read each other's posts.

2^ndmeeting:

• Discussion of the comments and questions posted on the discussion board.
• The discussion coordinator takes notes during the discussion on our notes page.

Prior to the third meeting:

• Each participant chooses one or more strategies to implement in their courses to foster a sense of belonging for their students.
• By 2 days before the 3^rd meeting: Participants post their plans to the discussion board.
• Participants read each other's plans.

3^rd meeting:

• Discussion of plans. What questions do you have about implementation?
• The discussion coordinator takes notes during the discussion on our notes page.

Timing

We scheduled 2 weeks between each of the 3 synchronous discussions in this series, to allow time for faculty members to read and digest the material and to post their responses to the discussion board prior to each of the synchronous meetings.

References

For our first discussion:

• Aguilar et al., 2014. Psychological insights for improved physics teaching: Physics Today, v. 67, n. 5, p. 43.
• Yeager and Walton, 2011. Social-Psychological Interventions in Education: They're Not Magic: Review of Educational Research, v. 81, n. 2, pp. 267-301.

Additional resources

• Cohen et al., 2006. Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention.
• Freeman et al., 2007. Sense of Belonging in College Freshmen at the Classroom and Campus Levels.
• Good et al., 2012. Why Do Women Opt Out? Sense of Belonging and Women's Representation in Mathematics.
• Hurtado, 1997. Effects of College Transition and Perceptions of the Campus Racial Climate on Latino College Students' Sense of Belonging.
• Johnson et al., 2007. Examining Sense of Belonging Among First-Year Undergraduates From Different Racial/Ethnic Groups.
• Lambert, 2013. To Belong Is to Matter: Sense of Belonging Enhances Meaning in Life.
• Miyake, 2010. Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation.
• Nunez and Yoshimi, 2016. A Phenomenology of Transfer: Students' Experiences at a Receiving Institution.
• Rayle and Chung, 2007. Revisiting First-Year College Students' Mattering: Social support, academic stress, and the mattering experience.
• Tellhed et al., 2017. Will I Fit in and Do Well? The Importance of Social Belongingness and Self-Efficacy for Explaining Gender Differences in Interest in STEM and HEED Majors.
• Torres et al., 2013. Sustaining Opportunity in Rural Community Colleges.
• Walton and Cohen, 2007. A Question of Belonging: Race, Social Fit, and Achievement.
• Walton and Cohen, 2011. A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students.
• Yeager and Dweck, 2012. Mindsets That Promote Resilience: When Students Believe That Personal Characteristics Can Be Developed.
• Yosso, 2005. Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth.