Mixed-methods exploration of students’ written belonging explanations from general chemistry at a selective institution

Abstract

This exploratory, mixed-methods study examines first-year general chemistry students' written responses on a belonging survey. Responses were thematically analyzed to identify students’ sources of belonging, which may help instructors choose...

“They Have Shown Me It Is Possible to Thrive within STEM”: Incorporating Learning Assistants in General Chemistry Enhances Student Belonging and Confidence

“…Further, students described five ways in which working with LAs in this course enhanced their sense of belonging in the larger STEM field: by reducing their sense of isolation; providing inspirational role models; helping them understand the STEM educational system; increasing engagement and confidence in their STEM-related knowledge and skills; providing accessible and approachable sources of support. These observations corroborate findings that peer support provides an important source of belonging, notably for women in science courses. − In addition, they support the value of the social and cognitive congruence between LAs and the students that they support.…”

“…Students in some demographic groups (e.g., racially and ethnically marginalized students; first-generation students; women) experience greater social and psychological barriers in science courses than students in the relevant comparison groups . These greater barriers contribute to a lower sense of belonging ,,,− and, on average, lead to predictable downstream effects: lower course performance, lower retention in the major, and arguably (although less well-explored in the literature) less trust in the scientific community. , We therefore ask whether LA support leads to greater belonging within underserved students in these key gateway courses.…”

Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study on PLTL Leaders’ Perceptions of their Group-Inclusion Skills in General Chemistry

“…Social-comparison concern (students contrasting themselves to other group members) can lead to anxiety, and disengaging in discussions, especially if they are unprepared . Social-belonging concerns also affect course performance and persistence in general chemistry. ,− One leader discussed this idea:…”

“…We used inductive content analysis to extract, reduce, and categorize data that answered the research questions. , Creating a codebook is both iterative and consensus-building; both authors, M.J.J. and R.F.F., contributed to the codebook development, identifying emergent themes in the responses, generating descriptive “codes” to represent those themes, grouping the codes into higher-level categories, and writing a codebook. , …”

“…and R.F.F., contributed to the codebook development, identifying emergent themes in the responses, generating descriptive "codes" to represent those themes, grouping the codes into higher-level categories, and writing a codebook. 55,56 Each team member contributed different insights into the coding process. M.J.J.…”