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1. Classroom Practices that Support Minoritized Engineering Students’ Sense of Belonging

   Rainey, Arielle; Verdín, Dina; Smith, Jessica (January 2021, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education)

   null (Ed.)

   Establishing and sustaining a sense of belonging is a necessary human motivation with particular implications for student learning, including in engineering. Students who experience a sense of belonging are more likely to display intrinsic motivation and establish a stronger sense of identity and persistence. It is important, however, to distinguish different domains of belonging, such as belonging to one’s university, belonging to a major, and belonging in the classroom setting. Our study examines if and how faculty support efforts contribute to diverse students’ sense of belonging in the classroom setting. Specifically, we sought to answer the following research questions: Which faculty support efforts promote a sense of classroom belongingness? Do faculty support efforts differentially promote a sense of classroom belongingness for students based on their demographic characteristics? Data for this study was collected in the Fall of 2018, across ten institutions, n = 819. We used the Faculty Support items from the STEM Student Perspectives of Support Instrument developed from Lee’s model of co-curricular support to answer our research questions. Demographic categories were created to understand if and how faculty support efforts differentially promote a sense of belonging for minoritized students compared to their counterparts. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the faculty support efforts that fostered a sense of belonging in the classroom. Interaction effects were included to understand how faculty support efforts affected classroom belongingness for the students in the demographic groups we identified. Minoritized women were less likely to feel a sense of belonging in the classroom when compared to majoritized men. Neither groups of women believed that their instructors wanted them to succeed, thus negatively impacting their classroom belongingness. There were, however, faculty support efforts that positively contributed to a sense of belonging in the classroom for minoritized women, including instructors’ availability, knowing that they could ask instructors for help in course-related material, and when instructors fostered an atmosphere of mutual respect. Additionally, minoritized women felt a sense of classroom belonging when they could capitalize on their previous experiences to scaffold their learning. Our findings highlight classroom practices and strategies faculty can use in the classroom to support minoritized women’s sense of belonging. These practices and strategies will be a crucial resource for engineering educators and administrators who seek to improve the field’s retention of minoritized and women students. Whereas efforts have been made to recruit minoritized students into engineering, our study points to a clear and crucial role for faculty to play: they can support minoritized students by fostering a sense of belonging in engineering classrooms. 

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2. Examining Engineering Students’ Shift in Mindsets Over the Course of a Semester: A Longitudinal Study

   Verdin, D.; Perez, C. L.; Krinsky, S.; Allen, E. L. (June 2023, 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Students (like all people) have elements of both growth and fixed mindsets. We studied shifts in both types of student mindsets over three one-semester courses. We found no significant change in students’ growth mindset at the beginning of the semester compared to the end of the semester. However, students’ fixed mindsets showed a statistically significant increase from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester. Two multilevel models were used to understand why students’ fixed mindsets may have increased 1) personal sourcesmastery goal, performance goal, and internal recognition, and 2) situational sourcesclassroom goal orientations and external recognition. Students’ endorsement of a performance goal orientation, which focuses on demonstrating competence and managing others’ perception of their abilities, increased their fixed mindset views at the end of the semester. In the model focused on situational sources, we found that students’ fixed mindset increased when they perceived their classroom environment endorsed a performance-approach goal structure and by receiving external recognition. When comparing both models, students’ fixed mindset increase was largely explained by classroom environmental sources. Specifically, students’ fixed mindsets increased when they perceived that their classroom environment valued a demonstration of competence (i.e., classroom performance-approach). Being recognized as an engineer by peers and instructors also increased students’ fixed views of their abilities. Conversely, one situational source was found to decrease students’ fixed mindset views, i.e., a classroom environment that promotes mastery goals. Our study points to an apparent and crucial role engineering classroom environments have in promoting certain mindsets. The study concludes with one pedagogical strategy that may help mitigate the inadvertent promotion of a fixed mindset, e.g., a mastery learning pedagogical intervention. 

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3. Work in Progress: Instructional Strategies to Promote Cognitive Belonging and Engagement in Engineering Courses

   Vigeant, Michelle; High, Karen (June 2025, ASEE Conferences)

   This work-in-progress paper explores instructional strategies that may promote cognitive belonging and engagement in engineering courses. Belonging uncertainty contributes to significantly lower than average STEM graduation rates for historically underrepresented students. Lang (2021) posited that if we promote a sense of cognitive belonging in the classroom, i.e., helping students feel like they belong in the courses they are taking, that we can remove a significant barrier to students’ learning. One approach he recommends is designing courses with high amounts of structure, which according to Hogan and Sathy (2022) directly contribute to creating an inclusive classroom. To add more structure to an upper-level architectural engineering course, the following will be implemented into the course: regular and deliberate opportunities for practice, clear instructions and expectations for all assignments and in-class activities, and scaffolding during lectures. In addition to incorporating elements of high structure to promote a more inclusive classroom environment, the following aspects will be incorporated: an inclusive syllabus, classroom participation agreement, and collaborative, in-class learning activities. This combination of high-structure and inclusive strategies will be implemented to promote cognitive belonging, which may also result in demonstrated changes in behavioral and social engagement. The long-term outcome of this work will likely show that these strategies increase cognitive belonging and/or engagement, such that other instructors may consider incorporating these types of changes into their courses to support their students. Zumbrunn et al. (2014) state that a supportive classroom environment will promote feelings of belonging, which leads to several outcomes, including increased engagement. Kahu and Nelson’s (2018) student engagement framework aligns with this claim since belonging is listed as one of the four psychosocial constructs that contribute to engagement. Lastly, according to Bowden et al.’s (2021) four pillars of engagement, the specific forms of engagement most closely related to cognitive belonging are social and behavioral. A mixed methods approach will be used to evaluate if the identified teaching strategies influence cognitive belonging, social engagement, and behavioral engagement. A questionnaire will be administered to all students three times during the semester in which the course is offered. Quantitative data will be obtained from a series of closed-ended questions, while qualitative data will be gathered through the students’ responses to open-ended questions. Additional qualitative data will be collected through in-class observations. The paper will include more details about the instructional strategies implemented, the questionnaire, and the observation protocol. The preferred presentation format for this WIP is a lightning talk. 

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4. Inclusive Engineering Classrooms and Learning Communities: Reflections and Lessons Learned from Three Partner Universities in Year 2

   Vaden, J.M.; Dukes, A.A.; Parrish, K.; Nave, A.H.; Landis, A.; Bilec, M.M. (June 2023, American Society of Engineering Education)

   Minoritized and underrepresented students have historically experienced prejudice and discrimination within and outside of their classrooms, negatively impacting their educational outcomes. Research has illustrated that student academic and social success can be improved through instructors creating inclusive classroom environments that facilitate a sense of belonging. The impact of creating more inclusive environments is well-studied, however actionable guidance on how to do this, especially in more technical disciplines such as engineering, is lacking. This study aims to address this gap by developing an inclusive engineering classroom practices menu along with accompanying tools for faculty seeking to improve their classrooms. The first year of this study, as detailed at ASEE’s Annual Conference in June 2022, saw the development of the inclusive engineering classroom practices menu as well as the pilot of the inclusive learning communities for faculty across three partner institutions. The student and faculty assessment plans were also curated and involved both a student and faculty survey as well as the opportunity for students and faculty to engage in short-format interviews. This presentation will focus on the survey and interview data that has been collected in the second year of the project and the website that has been developed to further engage faculty and other institutions and partners interested in the study. This second year of this study will also see the creation of a decision matrix to aid faculty and instructors to further promote and support the implementation of inclusive practices in engineering classrooms. The continued refinement of the menu and creation of both the website and decision matrix are the next steps in the development of an inclusive classrooms toolkit that can be used across all engineering classrooms and curriculums. 

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5. Integrating evidence-based teaching practices into the Mammalogy classroom

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad011  

   Patrick, Lorelei E; Duggan, Jennifer M; Dizney, Laurie (February 2023, Journal of Mammalogy)

   Powell, Roger (Ed.)

   Abstract The teaching practices used in college science classrooms have a profound influence on which students pass their courses (and continue to major in science) and which are ‘weeded out.’ Students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds have lower grades and learning gains compared to their nonmarginalized peers in courses that rely heavily on lecture and high-stakes exams. This achievement gap narrows or disappears when instructors use student-centered, evidence-based teaching practices. These teaching practices can include actions that shape our classroom environment, communicate course material, and assess student learning. In this paper, we provide a summary of the evidence supporting the use of student-centered teaching practices, followed by examples of several effective evidence-based teaching practices that can be integrated into organismal courses. Examples include faculty mindset for inclusion, teaching practices to increase student confidence and to reduce stereotype threat, increasing course structure by spreading points among several different types of activities, several active learning methods, jigsaws, Scientist Spotlights, course-based undergraduate research experiences, and inquiry-based labs. Each example is linked to supporting resources to help instructors easily implement these practices in their classrooms. The American Society of Mammalogists endeavors to be equitable and inclusive through numerous initiatives, and modifying our teaching practices can increase equity and inclusion of future mammalogists into our own classrooms. 

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