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

该项目旨在通过解决STEM教学和学习奖学金的关键需求来服务于国家利益。具体来说，它旨在促进对学生在传统课堂之外的本科学习经历中如何发展归属感的理解。该项目将侧重于住宿本科实地课程，这是生态学、地质学和地理学等STEM学科的关键学习经验。归属感在学生的心理健康和幸福感、学业成就和学习动机以及学校层面的留任方面发挥着重要作用。这对于来自STEM学科中代表性不足的社区的学生的坚持也是至关重要的。该项目的总体目标是建立地球科学和生物教师的能力，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，这些课程是数千名基于领域的STEM学科本科生的关键途径。该项目有可能对多个STEM学科的学生参与和学习产生广泛的影响和影响，并可能对本科实地教育的包容性产生积极影响。对于那些来自历史上被排除在基于领域的STEM学科之外的社区的学生来说，这可能尤其重要，因为他们的坚持与科学界的归属感密切相关。该项目的重点是促进对学生归属感如何在住宿实地体验中发展的理解，并为地球科学和生物学的教师建立能力，以支持学生归属感的增长。本项目研究的指导目标如下：1)识别促进和阻碍学生在住宅地球科学与生物本科课程中归属感发展的因素；2)描述地球科学和生物学本科领域课程的设计和实施，特别是教师正在使用哪些实践，以及在本科领域课程中培养学生归属感存在哪些挑战和需求；3)创建一个基于经验的框架，研究学生在本科实地课程期间的归属感如何发展；4)促进一个实践社区，利用并促进有前途的实践来设计和评估包容性的实地课程，以支持学生归属感的发展；5)阐明一套有前途的实践，这些实践有可能在各种形式的本科实地课程中促进学生归属感的发展，并为来自不同背景的学生提供帮助。使用创新和强大的混合方法研究方法，这项工作将有助于在本科STEM教育中更广泛地以证据为基础，以学生为中心的实践。这项工作有可能为基于学科的教育研究（特别是地球科学和生物学）、高等教育、教育和社会心理学、多样性、公平和包容等领域做出深刻而有影响力的贡献。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.