Understanding How Students' Sense of Belonging Develops During Undergraduate Field Experiences: Supports, Barriers, and Implications for Faculty

了解学生在本科实地体验中如何发展归属感：对教师的支持、障碍和影响

• 批准号: 2111621
• 负责人: Kari O'Connell
• 金额: $ 45.19万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111621&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Understanding; How; Students; Sense; Belonging

This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing a critical need in the scholarship of STEM teaching and learning. Specifically, it is designed to advance understanding about how students' sense of belonging develops in undergraduate learning experiences outside of the traditional classroom. The project will focus on residential undergraduate field courses, a pivotal learning experience in STEM disciplines such as ecology, geology, and geography. A sense of belonging plays an important role in students' mental health and well-being, academic achievement and motivation, and institution-level retention. It is also pivotal for the persistence of students from communities that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines. The overarching goal of the project is to build the capacity of geosciences and biology faculty to support the development of students' sense of belonging. In this way, it can help to improve the inclusivity of courses that are a critical pathway for thousands of undergraduate students in field-based STEM disciplines.This project has the potential for broad reach and impact on student engagement and learning in multiple STEM disciplines and is likely to have a positive impact on the inclusivity of undergraduate field education. It may be especially important for students from communities that have been historically excluded from field-based STEM disciplines, whose persistence is strongly linked to sense of belonging in the scientific community. The project focuses on advancing understanding about how students' sense of belonging develops in residential field experiences and builds capacity for faculty from geosciences and biology to support the growth of students' sense of belonging. The following objectives will guide the project study: 1) Identify factors that contribute to and hinder the development of students' sense of belonging during residential geosciences and biology undergraduate field courses; 2) Characterize the design and implementation of geosciences and biology undergraduate field courses, specifically what practices faculty are using and what challenges and needs exist for the development of students' sense of belonging during undergraduate field courses; 3) Create an empirically-based framework of how students' sense of belonging develops during residential undergraduate field courses; 4) Facilitate a Community of Practice that uses and contributes to promising practices for the design and assessment of inclusive field courses that support the development of students' sense of belonging; and 5) Articulate a suite of promising practices that have the potential to promote the development of students' sense of belonging during a range of formats of undergraduate field courses and for students from different backgrounds. Using innovative and robust mixed methods research approaches, this work will contribute to the wider body of evidence-based, student-centered practices in undergraduate STEM education. The work has the potential to provide a deep and impactful contribution to the fields of discipline-based education research (particularly in geosciences and biology), higher education, education and social psychology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过解决STEM教与学的学术研究方面的迫切需要来服务于国家利益。具体地说，它旨在促进对学生在传统课堂以外的本科生学习经历中如何发展归属感的理解。该项目将专注于住宿本科实地课程，这是STEM学科如生态学、地质学和地理学的关键学习经验。归属感对学生的心理健康和幸福感、学业成就和动机以及机构层面的留存都起着重要的作用。对于来自STEM学科代表性不足的社区的学生来说，这也是至关重要的。该项目的总体目标是建设地球科学和生物学教师的能力，以支持学生归属感的发展。通过这种方式，它可以帮助提高课程的包容性，这些课程是以现场为基础的STEM学科的数千名本科生的关键途径。该项目具有广泛的潜在影响，并对学生在多个STEM学科的参与和学习产生影响，并可能对本科现场教育的包容性产生积极影响。对于来自历史上被排除在实地STEM学科之外的社区的学生来说，这可能特别重要，他们的坚持性与科学界的归属感密切相关。该项目的重点是增进对学生归属感如何在居住现场体验中发展的理解，并培养地球科学和生物学教师支持学生归属感成长的能力。以下目标将指导项目研究：1)找出在住宅地学和生物学本科野外课程中促进和阻碍学生归属感发展的因素；2)确定地学和生物学本科野外课程的设计和实施的特点，特别是教师在本科现场课程期间使用哪些实践，以及在学生归属感的发展方面存在哪些挑战和需求；3)创建一个基于经验的框架，以了解学生在住宅本科实地课程期间如何发展学生的归属感；4)促进实践共同体，为支持学生归属感发展的包容性实地课程的设计和评估提供有前景的实践；以及5)阐述一套有潜力的做法，这些做法有可能在各种形式的本科实地课程期间和不同背景的学生中促进学生归属感的发展。使用创新和稳健的混合方法研究方法，这项工作将有助于本科生STEM教育中更广泛的以证据为基础、以学生为中心的实践。这项工作有可能对以学科为基础的教育研究(特别是在地球科学和生物学)、高等教育、教育和社会心理学以及多样性、公平和包容性等领域作出深刻而有影响的贡献。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。